


stationary adherence

by disepherous (orphan_account)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, I don't know what I'm doing, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-17
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2017-12-26 20:53:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/970173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/disepherous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing Eren knows about his roommate, Levi, is that he's a senior, takes afternoon classes, and works suspiciously late shifts at an unknown job every night. He thought communicating through post-it notes was enough, but he's about to get a whole lot closer to his elusive roommate than he'd prefer, and Eren's not sure if he likes it or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. first note

**Author's Note:**

> i don't usually write in first person, so i'm really iffy about this fic, but i'll post it anyways. i tried to proofread this the best as i can, but i'm sure there's still quite a lot of errors, so i apologize in advance if you spot them.
> 
> this chapter isn't really exciting, to be honest.

I stepped into the bustling student café like usual, looking for Armin’s familiar blond hair. Upon spotting him, he motioned me over with a wave. He had his textbooks and papers out neatly in front of him, and I held back a chuckle. Of course Armin would be working during our lunch break; he’s always done that in high school too. I remember Mikasa and I were always worried if he ever ate anything, but Armin has always insisted that he’s already eaten, and I trust his words of course.

“Eren? Are you going to get anything? Or should I get the usual for you?” Armin snapped me out of my high school reminiscence.

“Sorry,” I apologized. “The usual is fine.” A coffee and panini was my usual choice of lunch whenever I came to the café to meet up with Armin (which was almost everyday).

Standing at our table, Annie nodded silently before walking off. She didn’t even write down the order. I bet she’s pretty fed up with asking us what we want when we’re here, because Armin and I always order the same thing everytime. We were one of the café’s regulars ever since college started, so we also knew all the servers, who were mostly made up of other students who also attended Rose University.

A few minutes of silence between Armin and I passed while I watched him scribble down notes in his creepily perfect writing. I swear he’s like a human typewriter.

“What were you thinking about at first? Before we ordered?” Armin asked, finally looking up from his work and taking off his plain black rimmed glasses that he only used when he was reading or studying.

I shrugged. “High school memories. I miss it back at Trost, you know?”

Armin smiled. “I do too,” he agreed while taking a sip of his tea. “Less stressful and everything.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. I really did miss high school. All the friends I made during those four years, all the fun I’ve had. I’m really glad I still had Armin with me, because if it weren’t for him, I would have gone insane at this college weeks ago.

“I wonder how Mikasa’s doing?” Armin wondered, his tone nostalgic like mine. I took a large bite out of my panini.

“Hopefully, she’s doing well,” I say with a mouthful of bread, swallowing as I noticed Armin cringe at the crumbs spewing from my mouth. “I haven’t talked to her in a while. It makes me kind of sad, I guess. We were practically siblings. But I’m happy that she gets to have an education she deserves, she got tons of scholarships.” My adopted sister was always smarter than me, she deserved the best education could offer, and Rose just wasn’t the place for her.

A long, long time ago, I would have been jealous of Mikasa for being so good at everything. Things have changed since then, and I have to say I’m proud of having a sister like her now.

Armin hummed in agreement. “We could always visit her during breaks, or vice versa. I’m pretty sure University of Sina is only a two hour drive away.”

Mentioning Mikasa wasn’t a very good idea, because now the mood got pretty depressing, even though there was the noisy chattering of other students around us.

Armin jotted down a few extra words on his paper before clearing his throat and changing the subject. “So, how’s the roommate situation?”

The roommate situation. The dreaded subject Armin has always attempted to bring up whenever we hung out.

I sighed, tracing the rim around my half full coffee mug. “What’s new? It’s the same as always, I guess.”

Unlike most freshmen at Rose, I didn’t live in a student dorm. I suppose I was one of the rare ones who weren’t assigned one. I wasn’t too happy about the news, but thank god I had Armin with me. I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere in life without him and Mikasa. While I couldn’t permanently share a dorm with him (he was already living with someone named Jean or something, I don’t really know the guy), he offered to help me search for housing around the school area.

And that leads to my current situation. A few days after the first day of school, Armin had successfully found a place of housing for me. It was with an upperclassman named Levi, who from according to our first meeting, had a seriously scary thing regarding cleanliness. It was a bit unbearable (and unnerving) to live with him for the first week or so, but it gradually got better since we barely even see eachother now.

“You know Eren, you should try getting to know him. You’ll be living with him for the rest of college, right? You can’t just keep up the lifestyle you currently have.” Armin chided me carefully while he idly spun around the pen in his hand.

“It’s kind of hard to when you never see him other than the five minutes or something that he comes back to put his things back and then he disappears for the rest of the evening.” I rolled my eyes. “Our schedules don’t work out anyways. I have morning class, he has afternoon class. Meaning when I come back, he’s gone, and when he comes back, I’m in my room and then he leaves for his part time job or whatever he does at night. I don’t know when he comes back either.” I don’t mind the routine, I stay out of his way and he stays out of mine.

“That’s a problem then,” Armin pointed out, as if he were in the situation instead of me. Sometimes, I think he’s _too_ worried about my life.

“Armin, really. It’s fine. I’ll try to be friends with him, but I can’t really guarantee anything.” I said, mostly trying to appease him. I’ll actually try to get to know Levi, though. Because as much as I don’t want to admit it, Armin is hardly wrong about anything he says. Maybe he’s right that I should try making friends with others. He and Mikasa were really the only friends I have now, since most of the people I know from my college classes were mainly acquaintances and practically no one from my high school friend circle attended Rose with me.

Armin’s face immediately brightened up at my words. Ah crap, now I really need to do this. I can’t just let my best friend down like this.

“That’s great!” he cheered happily. “I’m sure you guys’ll get along well! For example, I was a bit uneasy rooming with Jean the first week you know, but after getting to know him, I can tell you that he’s really a nice guy!”

I laughed. Armin’s happiness was contagious. “Hey, now, don’t go getting a new best friend when I’m still here!” I teased, poking his arm from across the table.

He shot me a grin. “Like anyone could replace you. You’re, well, one of a kind, Eren.”

“Hey, was that an insult or a compliment!”

“Who knows, can’t you figure it out yourself?”

We spend rest of lunch break together before we parted ways for the rest of the day.

 

* * *

 

I arrived back to an empty apartment at about 3 pm, just like any other day. And also just like any other day, my roommate was nowhere in sight. I moved over to set my bag on the couch in the living room/dining room before I noticed a yellow post-it note on the kitchen island.

I wasn’t lying when I told Armin I barely saw Levi in person, but I didn’t mention to him about our little post-it note system. It all started when Levi left a note on the island about the schedule that he made for throwing out the trash or doing the laundry. I replied back via post-it note as well, and it became a small message system between us ever since. We don’t do it often, but it was the most efficient way to communicate with eachother. Phones were out of the question, because neither of us could afford being interrupted during class and Levi has his phone off almost the entire day, too.

I picked up the note and read what Levi had written earlier today. His writing was like Armin’s; neat and even, much like Levi himself.

_“Do the laundry at 5 today. Don’t forget or I’ll skin you alive.”_

I almost laughed out loud at my roommate’s threat. I grabbed a blue post-it note from the blue stack we had on the kitchen island and fished out a pen from my pants pocket. We had a color system for our notes as well. I used the blue post-it notes, while Levi used the plain, boring yellow ones. I suppose it fit him, though.

 _“I got it.”_ I wrote down, a bit miffed at how messy my handwriting was. I’m surprised Levi was able to read it properly most of the time.

I paused for a moment, remembering what Armin said about trying to get to know Levi better, and decided to add to the note, _“What time do you usually get off work?”_

Proud of my attempt, I clicked the pen and placed it back in my pocket and stuck the note onto the granite counter. I looked at Levi’s previous note in my hand for a moment, going over the orderly letters and words, before tossing it into the trash bin like the two of us did for every note we wrote.

I made myself a sandwich before hiding into the recesses of my room for the rest of the evening to do my work. Of course, I also remembered to do the laundry at 5 pm, just like Levi’s note told me to.

Today marked the 2nd week in a row where I haven’t seen my roommate.


	2. second note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren talks with Armin and Jean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm really surprised at the feedback this has gotten! i'm really bad at expressing gratitude, but thank you for every comment, kudo, and bookmark everyone has given for this fic!
> 
> i also want to apologize for not replying to comments, because i don't have much to say besides a cheesy "thank you for giving this fic a chance" and i'd rather not add to the comment counter.
> 
> this chapter is shorter than the previous one, sorry.

Like always, I woke up for class at 8, and I noticed that Levi had replied to my note from yesterday. The yellow stuck out like a sore thumb in the mostly grayscale kitchen.

I yawned as I attempted to read with bleary eyes. I don’t even know how Armin convinced me to take classes in the morning. He mentioned about getting it over with in the morning or something, but he’s always been able to convince people to do things they normally won’t do. Afterall, he was the one who was able to convince Mikasa to actually consider going to University of Sina instead of following us to Rose.

I squinted as I attempted to read the words on the light yellow paper. I really shouldn’t read when I feel like falling asleep everytime I blink. I fucking hate morning class.

_“You better have used the right detergent this time."_ it said. The words took up almost the entire small space of the paper, almost cramped up, but still looking orderly like always.

I felt a twinge of disappointment that Levi didn’t answer my question of when he finished work, but he seemed like the type of person who kept to himself, so I shouldn’t have really expected anything. Reading over the words again, I sighed before tossing the note away. I don’t think I need to write reply back, since I used the correct detergent last night. The nice flowery scented one that I liked.

It’s not weird to like flower scented laundry, okay. Seriously. I think it smells nice.

Pushing away my thoughts about my scent preferences, I grabbed an apple from fridge and my green jacket from the coat hanger and left before I’d end up late. I closed the door quietly, making sure not to wake Levi, who was most likely still asleep.

 

* * *

 

The day was uneventful yet again. I went to class as usual, and Connie came up to me, begging to copy the notes he missed yesterday. Connie was one of the few people I knew who went to Trost High with me, but he was only a classmate who shared the same chemistry class with me during junior year. I’m surprised he actually remembers me. The only reason I remember him was because he was the reason why school was closed for a week after he messed something up while doing an experiment in class. He was a hero to all the school hating students after that.

At 12, I met up with Armin again at the café. This time, I was surprised to find someone else occupying the seat next to him. I think it was his dorm mate. Jean or some other pants related name.

I sat down in my usual spot across from Armin, surprised to find my usual lunch already on the table. I gave Armin a questioning glance.

He rubbed his neck sheepishly. “I ordered for us already. I thought you’d appreciate having food waiting for you at the table.”

I thanked Armin and bit into my panini quickly, finally realizing how hungry I was. An apple at 8 am wasn’t exactly the best of nourishment to sustain you for four hours. Pausing for a drink of coffee, I saw Jean make a weird face. Or was his face always like that? He kind of looks like a horse, or a donkey. I resisted snorting into my coffee at the thought.

The panini was quickly devoured and that’s when Armin decided to look up from his notes and occasional side talk with Jean to speak directly to me, rubbing his glasses clean in the process.

“So how did it go with Levi?” he asked.

Wow, he’s really serious on the “Eren-should-make-friends-with-his-roommate” deal. I feel kind of bad now.

So I gave him the truth. “As successful as any other day,” I responded. “I tried to ask him when he got off work, but he didn’t give an answer.”

Jean seemed to spring to life at the mention of my elusive roommate.

“Wait are you talking about _that_ Levi?” he questioned with wide eyes.

“Considering I don’t know anyone else named Levi, I guess I am talking about him.” I reply flatly, giving him a look to continue on.

“Dude,” Jean began with a dramatic stare into my soul. “I heard he put like, 4 people in the hospital in the span of 3 months and you’re _living_ with him?” he finished, looking at me as if I’d gone insane.

I nodded, opting not to speak when he kept talking.

“And you’ve been living with him since like when, the start of the semester? Wow, you must be hardcore, if you can survive living with a guy like that. I’m actually impressed, Yeager.”

Apparently, according to Jean, Levi was feared among the students of Rose University. Rumors about him were flying around left and right. Rumors about how he beats up whoever he’s mad at, no matter if they’re student or staff. Or rumors about how he’s a part of a gang, or something along the lines of something illegal. I myself have never heard of these rumors, but I’ve never stayed on campus long enough to bother listening to what others have to say.

While Levi gave off an intimidating air when I first met him, he never struck me as the type of person the rumors described him as. It might be because I’ve never seriously spoke to him in person, but he doesn’t seem bad. Or maybe that’s just me being optimistic about things.

Jean (who’s last name was Kirschstein, I later learned) continued to rave on about how I’m either crazy or masochistic to live with Levi, and I’ve learned not to give him a response in fear of adding fuel the fire. Armin gave me an apologetic smile for his roommate’s antics, but I promptly forgave him, he wasn’t the one at fault.

Jean proved to be a big talker, providing almost all the conversation during our lunch time at the café. Armin switched the subject halfway from Levi to something regarding one of the classes he took with Jean, and I watched them silently as they spoke with each other. They got along surprisingly well, even though they seemed like complete opposites. Armin was thoughtful and kind while Jean was loud and kind of obnoxious (wait did I just describe myself?).

I felt a pang of jealousy in my chest as I looked at them, but I quickly drove the feeling away. I shouldn’t feel this way. Armin deserves to have friends other than me. I shouldn’t be selfish. Hell, he probably has tons of friends from his classes that I might not even know of. Ugh. I feel so preteen.

I took a look at the time on my phone, deciding to leave a bit earlier so I didn’t feel like a third wheel. The two bid me a quick “bye” before returning to their conversation, and I could feel the jealousy nipping at my heels again, so I rushed out the café.

Oh great. I think I can feel that panini and apple coming back up.

 

* * *

 

Class after that wasn’t good. I still felt sick, but it got better as the day progressed.

I breathed out a sigh as I got back to the empty apartment. There’s something wrong with me today, I bet. Maybe those nights of only consuming a sandwich or some instant noodles were catching up to me. I should prepare something proper to eat later.

I still don’t know why I felt so uncomfortably jealous around Armin and Jean. I was never like this in high school. Was it because Armin and I don’t spend as much time around each other anymore? Back then, we were almost always together, along with Mikasa.

I groaned loudly. I still felt like shit.

I dropped my things onto the floor and fell face first onto the couch, attempting to sleep my troubles away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> levi's not actually going to come in until chapter 4 or something, just so you know
> 
> please don't get your hopes up for this fic.


	3. third note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will there ever be a time where Eren and Jean can actually get along?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i think i hecked something up with how ao3 does its thing but the truth is it's been like a month since i last updated this and i've used most of that time to plan out this story and also working on another fic (which i'll hopefully??? post soon)
> 
> again, thank you for all the comments, kudos, and support everyone has given this fic! you have my deepest thanks!
> 
> and for those wondering when levi is going to show up, he's in the next chapter! (it's not gonna be all dramatic and cool, if that's what you're thinking)

I didn’t know what time it was when I woke up or how long I was asleep for. I lifted my head up from the cushions to look at the clock on the wall. It was already 7, meaning that I had slept about four hours since I came back.

I laid on the couch for a few minutes, the sound of the ticking clock being the only thing I could hear in the apartment. I continued to lie there, until my stomach decided to protest at how I haven’t eaten since lunch with Armin and his roommate.

I stood up and noticed that my bag and jacket weren’t on the floor anymore. I remembered carelessly tossing them onto the hardwood floor before I knocked out on the couch, but they were gone now. I figured that the only person who could have picked them up was Levi.

It was pleasantly surprising. The way Jean was talking about Levi made me think that my roommate was the biggest asshole that’s ever existed. Maybe he was a “icy on the outside, heart of gold on the inside” type of guy.

My stomach rumbled again, and I decided to focus on getting food rather than wasting energy thinking. I should get some food into my stomach. I decided earlier that I was going to prepare something on my own; microwave meals and processed foods weren’t doing any good for my stomach.

I scoured the kitchen for ingredients until I decided on making some pasta. It was simple and not too difficult; just what I was capable of. My cooking skill wasn’t the best, but thanks to Mikasa, I was somehow decent enough.

I realized that there wasn’t very much food left as I was taking the pasta out from one of the cabinets. I usually didn’t eat much and Levi was gone for the majority of the day, so there wasn’t a need to buy a lot. I made a mental note to myself to go grocery shopping soon to restock, though.

It didn’t take long to finish making the pasta using the recipe Mikasa taught me, and as I was waiting for it to cool before eating, my thoughts started wandering yet again.

I wonder if Levi ate when he comes back from work. He always comes back late and I always go to bed before he comes back. I wonder what his job was, too. What kind of employer would hire a college student with shifts that go from the evening to ungodly hours of the morning?

I looked down at my plate of pasta. I bet if anyone were with me right now, they would probably be laughing at the deep imploring stare I was giving it. Soon enough, I decided to get another plate and pile some pasta on it. After that I wrapped it with some plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge. I wouldn’t be able to eat the whole thing anyways, and I wanted to save some for Levi when he came back as thanks. Even if he didn’t eat it, it could always be tomorrow’s dinner. It’s a win-win situation.

I brought my plate to the kitchen island and ate in silence. Now I realize why I don’t eat at the apartment regularly. It’s kind of lonely eating alone. Usually, I was either doing some homework for class or using my laptop while I ate, so I had a distraction, but eating like this in an empty apartment is a bit depressing.

On impulse, I reached for the blue stack of post-it notes and a pen. I might as well tell Levi I made something for him and also thank him for putting my stuff back for me.

_“Thanks for picking my stuff back from the floor. I didn’t mean to crash on the couch.”_ was all I wrote before I ran out of space. Perhaps I should buy larger ones, and Levi’s note from yesterday seemed to barely fit the yellow square too. I grabbed another note and added, _“I made dinner, too. If you want you can heat up the leftovers that are in the refrigerator.”_ I stuck them both side by side on the black countertop.

Satisfied with what I wrote, I brought my attention back to my dinner and hurriedly finished it off. I still had some difficult work due the day after tomorrow that I wanted to start on early. If being friends with Armin Arlert taught you anything, it was to try and do your work early so you don’t procrastinate and attempt to do it at the last minute during the class before.

By the time I went back into my room for the night, it was already 8:30.

 

* * *

 

What I hated about Thursday classes was the fact that Armin didn’t have class today, meaning that I would spend another hour eating alone at lunch, embarrassingly enough. Yet again, I went to the café for lunch, even without Armin. Disregarding how close it was to campus, the food was really good, and even if I didn’t meet up with my best friend, I would have been a regular anyways.

I sat down at an empty booth, ordering my usual lunch when Annie came up to ask. I sat in silence, occasionally using my phone while I ate. I was in a somewhat good mood, because when I woke up, I found that the pasta I made yesterday was no longer in the fridge, meaning that Levi had eaten it when he came back last night. There was no note on the counter addressed to me, but the fact that my uptight roommate actually ate my cooking made me stupidly proud of myself and I was in an all too giddy mood for a Thursday.

Maybe that was why I was so complying when Jean “I look like a horse” Kirschtein sat down across from me with his own lunch. I spared him a mere glance before returning to my panini.

“Do you have class like, everyday?” Jean asked me, chewing on a plain BLT sandwich.

“Pretty much. I only have Mondays and weekends free.” I replied quickly, cutting the conversation short. For some reason, I really didn’t enjoy Jean’s company. Everytime he spoke or made some stupid gesture with his hands when he was deep in conversation just rubbed me the wrong way. I’m completely at loss at why Armin was friends with this two-bit loser.

“Why are you even here? You know Armin doesn’t have class and I officially just met you yesterday.” I eyed Jean suspiciously, because no one has ever actually approached me upfront like this. Not even in high school. All the friends I made back then were a result of Armin and Mikasa’s joint efforts. My sister has always said that my face scares people off. She once told me, “You look like you want punch everything that moves. And also a bit of constipation.” Needless to say, I spent about an hour in front of a mirror after that.

Jean looked offended at my words. “What, can’t I be a nice guy? You’re friends with Armin, so I thought you were at least half decent and I should try to get to know you.” He sneered. “Jeeze, you look like you want to kill someone all the time. No wonder you’re able to live with Levi without dying. We’re you born with that face?”

“Were you born looking like a horse?” I mutter to myself, mocking Jean’s tone of voice.

He looked ready to deck me as he opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a small hand clamping onto his head, effectively silencing him. Then, before I could attempt to even move, another hand grabbed onto my scalp, and I yelped in pain. Both Jean and I looked up at the owner of the hands and met with cold, crystal blue eyes.

Annie glared at us so hard I thought she was going to smack our heads together and knock us both out in seconds, but all she did was move us away from each other harshly. The café became eerily silent as all attention was drawn to us.

“There’s no fighting in the establishment,” she stated, her voice scarily calm, even while she glared daggers at Jean and I. “If you do so, I’ll have to kick you both out.” After that, she let go of our heads and left, not before turning back and giving us a warning look.

I decided to leave before I made another scene and stood up to grab my bag.

“Wait, you’re just going to leave like this?” Jean asked incredulously.

I glanced back at him. “Yeah I am. Bye.”

I didn’t give him a chance to reply before I hightailed out of the café, smirking as I heard Jean’s exclamation of, “What do you mean I have to pay for him?!”

Nevermind, my good mood is back in.


	4. fourth note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren goes grocery shopping and encounters his roommate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY HALLOWEEN HERE'S AN UPDATE!
> 
> levi is finally here, no matter how lame it may be! (after this he's going to show up pretty often, actually)
> 
> uh, i don't really have much to say other than this chapter is longer than the previous ones and i hope you enjoy it!

Still snickering at the aftermath of Jean’s loud protests, I went to my last lecture earlier than usual. It wasn’t anything notable; I chose a nice seat in the back of the room and took notes while the professor went on about various types of literature. I didn’t know anyone in American Literature, which I was grateful for in terms of being able to pay attention during class.

Slowly, time passed and I was officially done with class, and was planning to catch the bus to get back to the apartment (it was still weird to call it _my_ apartment), when I was approached by a petite blonde girl while I was packing up my notes.

The girl was short, ridiculously so, but her looks more than made up for it. She was extremely cute, and even I couldn’t help but have my face redden when she spoke with an equally adorable voice.

“You’re Eren Yeager right?”

I nodded, somewhat dazed by the sheer amount of cute I was assaulted with when she spoke.

She continued with a dazzling smile, “I’m Krista. You… probably don’t remember me, but I went to Trost High with you. I was in your English class in junior and senior year.”

Wait, seriously? How could I forget that someone this pretty was in my class two years in a row? What the hell was I _doing_ during high school?

“Uh, I think I remember,” I lied. “I don’t actually, er, I didn’t know a lot people who were in my classes back then. Sorry.”

Krista shook her head, dismissing my apology. “Oh no, you don’t have to say sorry. It’s fine. I thought I recognized you, so I decided to come and say hi. Maybe we could try and get to know eachother?” She flashed a bright grin and held her arm out for a handshake, and holy _shit_ , I might be getting diabetes from this girl.

I went in to take her hand, but a surprisingly strong grip from another hand stopped me in my place. I looked up and saw a tall, freckled girl giving me a smug grin as she swung her other arm casually around Krista’s small shoulders.

“Sorry to interrupt your conversation with _my_ Krista,” she put extra emphasis on the “my” as she looked me over, her lip curling slightly, signifying she didn’t think of me very highly.

“Ymir!” Krista exclaimed with surprise. “I thought you were going to wait outside for me?”

The other girl, Ymir, rolled her eyes. “Like I’m gonna leave you all alone to defend for yourself.” She had long dropped my wrist from her iron grip and enveloped the short blonde in an almost possessive hug. I more or less understood the situation at that point. I may be dense as hell most of the time, but even I could understand the “couple-y” vibes coming from the two females.

“Ymir!” Krista had called the other’s name again, this time I could see a strong blush gracing her fair skinned cheeks.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Let’s hurry up and get back. We still have to go shopping, okay?” Ymir replied, releasing Krista from her tight hug. The small girl quickly composed herself and addressed me again.

“Sorry, Eren. This is Ymir, my roommate,” she explained.

I resisted a snort. More like possessive girlfriend.

“Anyways, I’m sorry that we can’t talk for any longer. Ymir and I were supposed to be going grocery shopping together after this class.” she apologized again.

I nodded in understanding. “Yeah got it. I’ll uh, talk to you some other time?” I offered with a hopefully, normal looking smile.

Krista brightened again and nodded vigorously, earning a small chuckle from Ymir, before she and the taller girl left the classroom hand in hand.

After that, I finished gathering my things together and left the classroom while I checked the time. It was later than the usual time I got out of class, so I missed the regular bus that I took daily to get back.

As I thought back to my meeting with Krista and Ymir, I suddenly remembered that I, too, had to go grocery shopping. I searched up the closest store to the apartment on my mobile and set it in my mind as my next destination.

 

* * *

 

It didn’t occur to me that I had no idea what to buy until I got to the grocery store and took a basket near the automatic sliding door entrance. For a while, I just wandered around the aisles aimlessly and looking through shelves of various foods. In fact, I don’t think I even carried enough money in my wallet to restock back at the apartment.

I went through aisle to aisle with an empty black basket as a symbol of my utter incapability to do grocery shopping. Back before college started, mom or dad always did the shopping while Mikasa and I did house chores. I think I also remember that mom gave us a lecture and mentioning about making a shopping list. Huh, maybe I should have planned things ahead of time.

When I got to the canned foods aisle, the only food items in my black basket were a two bags of chips and a loaf of bread.

I crouched down with a sigh as I inspected a can of corn, rolling the tin can around with my fingers. Should I buy this? Do I even eat corn? How do you eat corn from a can? Do you like, open it and get a spoon and scoop it out? Ew, that sounds gross.

“You should get the other brand instead. It tastes the same but it’s a lot cheaper.” I heard a voice from above me and it came so unexpectedly that I dropped the can of corn in my hands.

The can landed loudly on the linoleum tiles, clattering from the impact and then rolling away before I picked it back up and returned it to its spot on the shelf before it could roll away from my grasp.

Still crouching, I whipped my head towards the unrecognizable voice that was clearing speaking to me. I was met with a surprising sight. It was Levi.

He looked the same as when I first met him, excluding his different outfit. The same face with the same hair and same relaxed posture. He was wearing a simple white shirt under a thin black cardigan and coordinated with black skinny jeans and converse. It looked comfortable, if I were to compliment it.

I was surprised to see the roommate that was usually absent from my life. Didn’t he have class in the afternoon?

“So are you only going to buy that or are you just going to crouch there and look like you’re taking a shit?” Levi drawled tiredly while gesturing to the shelves of canned corn in front of me, snapping me out of my thoughts with his blunt voice. He was staring at the basket in my hands with a blank face, probably in disbelief at the whopping 2 bags of chips and a loaf of bread that I decided to buy after who knows how long I’ve been wandering around in the store.

In embarrassment, I quickly stood up, effectively making me lightheaded as blood struggled to reach up my brain. It settled quickly, and I also realized that Levi was shorter than me. I couldn’t calculate exactly how much, but it looked he looked like he’d reach up to my ears. My eyes trailed down to the black basket that he held in one hand, filled with actual food instead of the unhealthy snacks I threw in mine.

“Uh, did you get everything we needed?” I asked, trying my best to hide my fairly empty basket behind me.

Levi nodded curtly and walked off, raising his free hand to gesture for me to follow him. It looked like what an owner would do with his dog, but regardless, I followed.

We stopped at the cleaning aisle. I watched as Levi looked through various cleaning products with vigor, occasionally taking out a bottle or two to read the labels. I stood rather awkwardly behind him, like a child waiting for his mother to finish shopping.

Did I just compare Levi and myself to a mother and her child? Eugh, that was creepy.

“Do you like lemon or orange?” Levi turned to me and asked, holding up lemon and orange scented spray bottles and stopped me from expanding on my earlier thoughts. He looked between the two bottles, like he was unsure which one he wanted, so he asked for my input.

“Um, I don’t really have a preference,” I said, scratching my neck. “Lemon, I guess?”

“Lemon it is then.” Levi said as he placed the spray bottle in his basket and went to return the other one. After that, he spent a few more minutes picking out cleaning supplies, but he never asked for my input anymore.

At last he finished, and I went with him to the checkout counter at the front of the store, setting out groceries on the conveyor belt where the young girl was working as cashier. She looked surprisingly young; she couldn’t be older than a high school student.

I fished out my wallet from my bag, and was shocked to find only a $5 bill in the pockets. I groaned aloud. That wasn’t enough for even a third of what we bought. I really should have prepared for this and gotten more money.

To my surprise, Levi held out a hand for me to stop when I was handing the cashier the bill.

“I’ll pay for it,” he said, taking out his own wallet and two crisp twenties.

I didn’t want him to pay, so grabbed his hand to stop him, determined to protect my pride and dignity. “No, you shouldn’t pay. I’m the only one who actually eats at the apartment. You shouldn’t be paying for me.”

Levi stared straight at me, his steel gray eyes (do I see a bit of blue in there, too?) flashing with stubbornness. “If you didn’t know, I eat during the mornings. I have as much of a reason to pay as you do.”

“No, really. I can just put some stuff back and-“

“Yeager,” Levi cut me off harshly, shaking my hand off as if it were merely a leaf. “I’m paying and that’s final.”

His tone of voice gave me no room for any more objections and I looked at him dejectedly while he handed over the two $20 bills to the young cashier, who looked half amused half irritated at the small dispute she had to witness between the two of us.

I had lost the battle, and Levi made me carry all the bags while we walked back. The store wasn’t very far away from our apartment (it was still kind of weird it call it “our’s”) and was within walking distance. Levi was constantly a few steps ahead of me, showing no signs of slowing down for me, even when I got caught at the intersection during a green light while he kept on walking ahead, completely ignoring me as he strolled down on the other side of the street.

I was out of breath when I caught up to him as we neared the turn into the suburban area where we lived. Levi never looked back to me once. I wonder if he even noticed that he left me behind back at the intersection. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t.

Suddenly, Levi stopped. It was abrupt and I almost walked into him, which would have been bad. He took out his phone and looked like he was texting someone from the specific movements of his slender fingers.

“Why’d you stop?” I asked, taking the moment to catch up next to him.

He pocketed his phone with a sigh. “You don’t mind bringing those groceries back in, right? I have class soon and I’d prefer not to be late.” He pointed at the two medium sized place bags I held in each hand.

I nodded. Levi seemed pleased for only a few seconds before he fell back to his bored stare.

“Good,” he said, turning on his heel to start walking in the opposite direction.

Before I could turn away and return to the trek to the apartment, Levi turned his head back to me and addressed my name, successfully catching my attention. Afterall, he never called me directly by my name today or the first time we met either.

“The pasta tasted like dog shit.” he remarked, and I felt another blow to the wall known as my pride. It was shattering, and fast too.

He must have seen the hurt that fell on my face, or he was just trying to be nice, because he also added: “It wasn’t bad, though. I’ve had worse.” His chest rose and fell with his breaths and he shoved his hands deeper in his pockets, in an attempt to look nonchalant.

I must’ve looked like a dog at that point, because right when Levi said that, I brightened right away. It was amazing how much his words were affecting my emotions so easily. I didn’t matter if he was trying to be nice for my sake; I, like many others, loved being complimented and praised.

Levi already left by the time I was taken out of my content stupor, but the grin never left my face, even when I almost tripped while walking up the stairs.

I decided that I’d make some pasta again tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> krista is a goddess and ymir is fab


	5. fifth note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More characters are introduced and Levi is always showing up where Eren is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow well, it's been another month and i'm really sorry about these crazy updates
> 
> this chapter is very bad like super bad i got this stupid creative block just as i was about to finish this so now it's just long and shitty i'm really sorry
> 
> hopefully the next update will be soon (knowing me, probably not)

It was two weeks after my unexpected meeting with Levi at the grocery store, but the incident seemed so distant in my memory because of the lack of real communication between the two of us. Sometimes I even wonder if I’ll ever see Levi again, it was already about 3 months into the semester and we were still practically strangers living in the same complex.

It was also a week since I’ve spoken to Armin in person. I had told him about the run in with Levi, and he practically beamed knowing that I was getting along with him, and even generously paid the check for our lunch that day.

Unfortunately, Jean happened to be there too. Armin had scolded the two of us about the incident, but that only managed to cause another argument to erupt between horse face and I. Armin stopped us before we could get kicked out of the café, and had sheepishly confessed that he was the one who asked Jean to try and be friends with me, which was the stupidest decision his brilliant mind has ever come up with because I don’t think I could ever get along with Jean without wanting to slam his face onto a table or something. Eventually, he made me apologize to Jean, and it was surprising when Jean apologized back. Luckily, I managed to avoid paying Jean back for the lunch.

But back on the subject of Armin, I haven’t seen the blonde in over a week. It seemed like he was perpetually busy and had to balance his time to make room for his new friends and his studies. In fact, it was like we were going in separate directions. Aside from the occasional brief chats with classmates about class, I was making no progress in making new friends. Although, Armin and Mikasa have always told me that I was bad at approaching others, either coming on too strong or seeming too nonchalant. I’ve always thought that once college came, it would be easy to make friends because there weren’t stupid things like cliques in college. Boy, was I wrong.

There was only one person I talked to on a daily basis now, and it was, surprisingly, Levi. Well, if you can call our one or two sentence exchange through a small piece of paper as “talking”. Our post-it note conversations never involved our personal lives; I’ve tried numerous times to weasel out some info about Levi’s life to no avail. Usually, Levi just wrote reminders like doing the laundry or taking out the trash. Other times, he made some god awful joke that still managed to earn a chuckle from me despite the vulgarity and stupidity of it all.

 

* * *

 

Once more, I went to the café across from school to meet up with Armin for the first time after our long period away from each other. Lunches were always spent with Armin, because we had separate majors, and it was saddening that we didn’t share any classes together, so I promised that I’d spend all my lunches with him.

The establishment was bustling, more so than usual, as there seemed to be more customers than usual and the waiters were scrambling to take orders. Luckily I found myself an empty booth and claimed it before anyone else. Armin wasn’t here yet, so I wanted to order and wait for him.

It was weird to see Bertholdt take my order, because it was almost always Annie who came to monotonously ask for what I wanted, even though she knew exactly what to get. When I asked, Bertholdt explained that Annie was out sick, and his other roommate/co-worker Reiner took the day off to take care of her. I felt sorry for poor Bertholdt, having to take up two shifts, so I wished him luck as he left with my order of my usual lunch.

Waiting for Armin was quite boring. I never bothered to do work while I waited, unlike him. I was in the middle of checking my phone when I heard someone get into the seat across from me. Thinking that it was my blond best friend, I looked up, ready to greet him, until I realized that this person across from me wasn’t Armin. Blond yes, but not my best friend.

I wasn’t sure how to describe the man in front of me, because the first word that came to mind when I looked at him was “prince”. He was princely looking, and he pulled of the blond with blue eyes look perfectly like he was some model. He looked older than me, so I would guess that he either was a senior, or just one of the occasional business men who came to the café.

I didn’t realize he was speaking until he looked at me weirdly. Probably wondering why the hell a kid like me was literally gawking at him. I had to admit, the guy had looks.

Wait, he was talking again. I managed to snap out of my thoughts and listen for once.

“…You’re sitting at my table.” was what I had heard.

Wait what? The table was empty when I came here... I tried to remember how the table looked like before I decided to sit my ass there and steal someone’s table like an asshole. I looked to my left, and there it was. The proof of my shitty ways. A bag that didn’t belong to me that was sitting neatly on the seat next to me.

“Oh. _Oh_. Oh _shit_ ,” I blurted out quickly while I handed him the bag, feeling the embarrassment of the situation catch up to me. “I’m _so_ sorry. I-I didn’t know that this was your table. I was probably tired, and I didn’t notice. I’ll leave-“

“It’s fine.” The blond cut in with a million dollar smile that could make angels swoon. “There are quite a lot of people in today, so it’s to be expected. You can still sit here, though. I don’t mind sharing.”

Not only did he look like a prince, but he sounded and acted like one, too.

I thanked him for letting me stay at his table, before Bertholdt came back with my regular panini and coffee. He looked overworked and I felt a twinge of sympathy for him. I’ll tip him a bit extra today, I decided.

I ate my lunch in silence, with the man sitting across from me sat all prim and proper. Maybe this guy really is a prince.

I was almost done with my lunch, noticing that Armin had never shown up. I suddenly felt a large concern taking over my mind as I thought about my best friend. At that moment, as if on cue, I felt my phone vibrate in the pocket of my jacket. I checked it and it was a text from none other than Armin himself. He explained how he was sorry he didn’t come to lunch and that he was at the library studying with a friend for an exam he’s having in his next class. As I read the text, I felt a familiar hurtful pang in my chest, but I texted him back anyways, saying that it was fine. I had company as well.

I glanced back up at the man across from me.

Finishing my lunch quickly, I cleared my throat.

“Um. Do you go to Rose, too?” I asked, hoping that I didn’t sound awkward. It wasn’t a great ice breaker, but it had to suffice.

Damn, I was really bad at this.

He nodded. “Yes. I assume you do as well?”

It was my turn to nod. “Yeah, I’m a freshman.”

“Senior.” he replied, confirming my previous guess.

There was a moment’s pause before I spoke again. “Are you waiting for someone? Because you didn’t order anything and you’re sitting like you’re in a lobby waiting for your doctor’s appointment.”

I hoped that wasn’t rude of me, but the laugh that came out from the blond proved that I didn’t offend him in some way.

“Was it obvious?” he laughed. “I’m waiting for a friend of mine, yes. He’s late, but I suppose it’s to be expected. He doesn’t wake up early very often.”

“I was waiting for someone, too.” I said, running a clean hand through my dark hair. “Except I got ditched for a hot date with a bunch of textbooks.” And for another friend, the voice in the back of my head sneered. I ignored it and focused my attention back on the blond.

My joke stirred another laugh from the older male, and I felt good to have made someone laugh, despite how bad the joke was.

“I’m Erwin. Erwin Smith.” he introduced after, holding out a hand for me to shake.

I shook his larger hand and shot him a smile back. “Eren.”

I watched as his face changed into a face of recognition, then I heard a loud thump from next to Erwin, surprising me and I pulled my hand back hastily.

I could only look on with utter shock as I saw Erwin chatting away with my roommate, who not so gracefully sat himself next to the other, draping an arm behind the back of the seat. After a moment, he seemed to notice me and addressed me.

“Huh. Surprising to see you here, Yeager.” he remarked with his usual unimpressed tone.

I looked on like a gaping fish.

Erwin spoke before I could. “So this is Eren. I’ve always wanted to meet the only roommate you’ve ever tolerated. You’ve never gotten along with your past ones.”

“Whatever,” Levi scoffed, dark eyes scrutinizing me as I tensed under his gaze. It felt like he could see right through me, and it unnerved me somehow. Like he could take one look at me and he’d be able to know what I was thinking. “The kid’s not half bad.” he finished plainly, turning his head away from me and I unconsciously breathed out in relief.

I felt my face warm at his words, much like how I felt two weeks ago when he said my cooking wasn’t bad. Was I really so easy to please? It was like any compliment from Levi made me act like a kindergartener whose drawing was just praised by the teacher.

I coughed, hoping to dispel the heat from my face. “We actually, uh, barely even see each other.” I clarified, earning a curious raise in Erwin’s eyebrows. I continued, “This is actually the,” I paused and counted. “Third? Time we’ve actually met in person.”

Erwin directed his curious gaze to Levi, who in turn rolled his eyes and looked away. “Levi, don’t tell me you been working?” Erwin’s voice was stern and prying, kind of like a father trying to get his child to confess something they’ve done wrong.

My interest piqued at the older man’s mention of my roommate’s supposed “work”. I’ve never known anything about Levi’s job, so I was quite curious to see what the pair sitting across from me had to say about it. Levi seemed resistant to Erwin’s prying, but the blond looked unfazed at Levi’s avoidance on the subject.

After watching the two skirt around the subject, I was tempted to ask about it mostly out of interest, and I acted upon it immediately when the urge came to me.

“About Levi’s job!” I exclaimed, louder than I expected, but it caught the attention of both of them. I continued, lowering my voice back to its normal volume, “I’ve always wanted to ask what his job was. He’s always working so late, it’s weird.”

“You haven’t told him, Levi?”

“It doesn’t involve him. I get home in one piece, and that’s all that matters.”

Erwin frowned. “I think he deserves to know.”

Levi glared back, his voice tense like he was holding back his anger. “He doesn’t.”

Well this looks like we’ve wandered onto bad territory. What kind of job does Levi have to get him so defensive and angry?

“No nevermind, it’s fine really. If he doesn’t want me to know then he doesn’t have to tell me. Sorry.” I said quickly, hoping to calm the tension in the air. Afterall, it was my fault to ask, and I hated feeling guilty.

The older blond shook his head. “It’s not that bad, really. But if Levi doesn’t want to tell you, then I guess he won’t. He’s particularly stubborn about the smallest things.” He patted Levi on the shoulder in a friendly gesture, and the darker haired male shot him an icy stare, looking ready to spit insults in return, but instead looked away with a sigh.

I was still curious, of course. The way that Levi was denying it so adamantly made me even more interested in his night job. What could it be? What if it was some illegal business, like one of the rumors Jean had told me a few weeks ago? The possibilities were endless in my mind, and I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from blurting everything out.

“As long as it’s not illegal…” I heard the words slip past my lips before I had even realized I said it. Levi gave a sarcastic laugh as he tapped his fingers on the tabletop.

“Nothing illegal, eh? Glad to see that you have such a high opinion of me.”

“No no no no!” I spluttered desperately. “I-I don’t mean it in a bad way, not at all! I’d just be concerned if you were involved in some trouble, that’s all!”I attempted to grab my cup of coffee for a sip to calm myself down, but I had forgotten that it had already been empty for quite a long time. I resisted frowning at the lack of caffeine and focused back onto Levi.

“How do you think I’m breaking the law then? Selling drugs? Or maybe an illegal fight club?” Levi brought his hand up to inspect his fingernails in a casual gesture, like the topic of conversation wasn’t about his maybe or maybe not illegal job.

I wasn’t sure how to answer. I’ve heard the stories about how Levi was involved in some gang business or something of the like back when he was still a freshman at Rose, but I also don’t think that the man sitting across from me is anything like the man described in those rumors. I wasn’t sure and I didn’t want to assume things, so I responded with my gut feeling.

“No, it’s not like I actually think you’re involved in that stuff,” I offered lamely, holding up my hands in a neutral stance. “But uh, those examples were pretty specific, though.” I scratched at my clothed arm, hoping that I didn’t say anything offensive.

Levi was actually silent for a while, and so was Erwin. They both had this weird deep in thought type of face and it made me wonder if I had said something wrong.

I wanted to apologize again, but abruptly, the shrill ring and loud buzz that came from the inside of my pocket filled the air and I was temporarily stunned from the suddenness of the call before I was able to realize that it was actually my phone that was ringing. I held up my index finger to the Levi and Erwin and took out my phone.

I had no idea who would be calling me at the time, so when I saw my adoptive sister’s name on the glowing screen my eyes widened and I immediately picked up the call. It was probably rude, because I was still in the café but I couldn’t care less because it was Mikasa who was calling me and I haven’t hear from her since college started, so you could imagine my excitement when I picked up her call.

“Mikasa! I haven’t heard from you in ages, what’s up?” I could barely keep my enthusiasm from my voice as I anticipated her reply.

“Eren, guess what?” Mikasa’s voice came from over the phone. She sounded just as happy as I was, even through the fuzzy quality of a long distance phone call. She sounded so much different from her usual calm demeanor and wanted to laugh because of how giddy I felt talking to her again.

“I managed to finish my extra work early so I have next week’s break off, you do too, right? I’m coming back to visit you and Armin.”

I could feel a grin forming on my face. “Really? That’s great! It’s been so long, and I’m sure Armin’s going to be overjoyed when he hears about this.”

“Sorry if I called when you were busy, I just wanted to tell you right away.”

“Are you kidding me? I would have picked up your call no matter if I was in class or what!”

Mikasa laughed over the phone, sounding years younger than she actually was. It reminded me of the times when we were younger and gathered into a circle with Armin in front of his grandpa’s fireplace, listening to him tell stories from memory about fairytales and brave heroes. I used to love that stuff when I was a kid.

“Well, I don’t want to keep up all your time, I should go. I have a lecture in a few minutes.” Mikasa said over the rustling of paper, most likely getting ready for the lecture she said she had to go to.

“Yeah alright. We’ll catch up later, ‘kay?”

“Definitely,” Mikasa answered. “Bye. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

With a click, she hung up, leaving me to listen to the dial tone as it droned on and on before I hung up myself. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face thinking about how Mikasa was going to come back and visit next week. She was extremely busy at University of Sina. I knew it was going to be hectic for her when she started out the year as she worked for her medical degree, which was the main reason why she chose US out of all the scholarships she had gotten. Mikasa wanted to go into medicine, just like dad, and US was always known for its medical program. In fact, I’m pretty sure Armin could have gotten in too, if he wanted to, but he chose Rose with me because of computer science.

I caught myself before I started thinking too hard, realizing that I was still in the café and that I was I was actually in the middle of the conversation before I rudely answered right then and there instead of going outside like a sensible person. I was just so surprised and eager to talk to Mikasa that I completely forgot the situation like an idiot.

Phone in hand, I looked up at Erwin and Levi, anticipating their offended faces looking back at the shithead who ended up taking a phone call in a busy café. Surprisingly, they weren’t as scathing as I expected. Well, Erwin’s wasn’t. He looked intrigued even, like he was wondering who I was talking to, but didn’t look angry with me at all. Levi, on the other hand, oh boy. I actually flinched, my blood running cold as his dirty glare directed right at me. I must have broken some pretty big fucking rules, because he was glaring at me like I just came into the room with metaphorical cups of mud and just flung them around everywhere.

“Sorry about that,” I avert my gaze, wishing that Levi would stop glowering holes through me. “It was an important call, and I kinda got carried away.” I felt like I could melt into the chair I was sitting on, because I was so backed up into it that it seemed like it could phase through my skin.

“We understand,” Erwin replied. “But next time, at least go outside to take a call. It’s good manners, you know.”

I nodded sheepishly. The force of Levi’s glare was unrelenting, even as I attempted at all cost to avoid meeting his eyes because if looks could kill, Levi’s would have committed mass genocide and I prefer not to have all that directed at me.

I looked back at my phone, which was still in my hands, in hopes to distract myself. Unlocking my phone, my eyes widened when I looked at the time at the corner of the screen. I wasn’t even aware of how long I was staying here since so many things happened during the short time span of my lunch break.

“Crap,” I cursed to myself, stuffing my phone back in my pocket and grabbing my bag, getting out 10 dollars from my wallet and throwing it down on the table. Even if I rushed, there was no doubt that I would be late for American Literature.

“I’m gonna be late for class, sorry! This’ll cover my order and everything; let Bertholdt keep the change too!” I managed to wave back behind me as I rushed out, dodging some waiters who gave me dirty looks at my reckless power walk.

“Wait, Eren.”

At hearing that low, drawling voice, I froze in my spot. Turning back, I saw Levi, whose glare was now dampened, but not enough for me to relax just yet. He was looking over the seat, right at me, like the people who walked into his line of sight didn’t even exist.

I had the urge to just ignore him and leave, since I was already late, but some crazy part of me told me to stay, so I remained unmoving as I waited for his words.

“Look, remember to take out the trash when you get back. Make sure to separate the wastes from the compostables. I’m reminding you because knowing you, you’ll probably end up forgetting after you read my note.” he finished off with another glare before sinking back down into the seat, leaving me to stand awkwardly in the middle of the café.

I was half surprised at how much Levi had spoken at that one moment, considering how he was looking at me like he wanted to kill me just a few minutes ago. Now, I _really_ wonder what that was about. Did he get angry at me for answering a call in the middle of a conversation? I suppose so; it was kind of rude of me after all.

All of a sudden, someone bumped into me and effectively reminded me of my situation. I made a mental note about sorting the trash when I got back and bolted out the door, hoping I could get to class before I could get any later.

 

* * *

 

I arrived to my lecture 15 minutes after it started. I was still panting from the mad sprint across campus as I sat in my usual seat after my professor gave me a disappointed sigh when she saw me burst through the back door. From the corner of my eye, I could see Krista, with Ymir sitting (arm over the shoulder) close on her left side, flash a sympathetic smile in my direction.

I groaned quietly and let my forehead smack with my open notebook.

I wish Mikasa were here already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for the comments and kudos and everything i get really embarrassed when i read them adsfgjk
> 
> do people actually tag my fic on tumblr wow i hope not i only have an art blog there (i don't even post snk) mmmaybe i'll make a writing blog??? i have a lot of discontinued and abandoned ereri fics so idk maybe


	6. sixth note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio finally meet up and Eren finally takes the first step onto the path of maturation (no matter how long it may be).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow it's already christmas looks like the christmas chapter is gonna come hella late
> 
> and yet again, it has been about another month in which i spend half of the time contemplating whether to rewrite the whole chapter because i was unsatisfied with it and i still am unsatisfied but i really don't want to look at it anymore so here it is

On the day Mikasa was coming back, Armin and I waited at the train station for her. Well, it was more like we were going surprising her. We didn’t tell her that we were going to meet up with her when she gets off her train, but I couldn’t wait to see her so I convinced Armin to go along with my surprise plan.

And so, here we are, sitting on a cold concrete bench in the middle of a bustling train station. I was nursing a hot cup of coffee in my hands as Armin had his reading glasses on with a textbook in his lap. I wanted to tease him about studying during the break, but I decided against it when the noise level of the station overwhelmed the volume of my own voice.

In between sips of coffee, I constantly checked my phone for the time. It was currently 12:36, and Mikasa was going to arrive at about 12:50, give or take a few minutes of course. I shivered through my clothes. It was especially colder today so I huddled in closer to Armin, who flinched in surprise at me suddenly leaning onto him and elbowed me lightly.

I whined, “It’s so cold.”

Armin rolled his eyes at me. “If you checked the weather report for today you would have known better than to just wear a jacket and some jeans.”

“Only you check the weather, Armin.”

“Hush. You were the one who suggested that we wait for Mikasa to come back. You reap what you sow.”

I shivered as a particularly strong breeze blew across the station. I dug my free hand into my jacket pocket and took a large gulp of warm coffee, hoping it would preserve any remaining heat I had. I checked my phone again. Only a couple more minutes.

Despite the cold, my excited hadn’t died down. There was no way I’m going to let the weather dampen my mood.

I switched between my jacket pockets to my jean pockets, my face forming into confusion when I felt something unknown in the front pockets of my pants. I took it out, realizing it was actually a small yellow post-it note from Levi that I had messily shoved into my pockets this morning instead of throwing it away like I usually did. I was rushing, the thoughts about Mikasa’s return occupying all the space in my mind at the time. If I remembered correctly, it wasn’t anything super important. It was quite generic, I think. I reread the note to make sure.

_“Have fun.”_ was neatly written in the middle of the wrinkled paper.

I was taken aback for a moment at the kindness of the note. Not that I thought Levi was going to be rude and scathing, but it was surprisingly nice of him to say. I had only briefly mentioned going to see Mikasa in a note yesterday night, but I never expected him to write back or even acknowledge it.

Unless he was being sarcastic. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was.

The semi-brightened mood I had gotten from reading the note suddenly deflated after realizing this, and apparently my face showed it, because Armin looked over at me with a worried frown.

“Are you okay? You look sad all of a sudden.” he said with a concerned tone, closing his textbook and giving me his full attention.

I shook my head. “No, it’s nothing,” I pocketed the note again. “I’m just getting a little anxious thinking about seeing Mikasa again.”

It wasn’t a lie, I really was kind nervous to think about seeing my sister again after a month or so. It didn’t seem long in context, but it felt like we were separated for even longer, and I was worried if we were going to go back to being high school students or if I was going to be faced with a brand new person. I didn’t know why I felt this way, but I couldn’t help it.

Armin patted my shoulder with a gloved hand. “I understand. Afterall, it’s been awhile. I’m sure she’s probably going through the same emotions you’re feeling. Even I’m feeling a little worried.” he admitted with rosy wind bitten cheeks.

Before I could say anything else, I heard a faint ringing from the distance and stood up immediately, taking Armin by surprise. Taking out my phone yet again, I checked the time. It was 12:50, the exact time when Mikasa was going to arrive, so the train that was coming in was definitely the one she was on.

I watched as the train stopped and large groups of people exited from the train doors, straining my eyes to find any trace of a familiar red scarf. After scanning the area, my eyes finally found Mikasa, who was walking against the tide of people entering the train she had just departed.

“Mikasa!” I called out to her, waving my hand in hopes that she would notice me.

It worked, and she suddenly whipped her head in my direction, her dark eyes widening as she saw me. As fast as she could, she maneuvered through the sea of people flawlessly, not bumping into a single one in her way. I was impressed.

I ran up to her to meet her halfway and she enveloped me in a tight hug, to which I hugged back. She buried her face into my shoulder and I patted her back gently. At that moment, all the anxiety and worry washed away. Nothing had changed. Mikasa was still Mikasa.

“Long time no see, sis.” I grinned at her.

Her lips quirked up slightly and she sniffed loudly. “I missed you.”

“Mikasa! Eren!” Armin shouted as he scrambled up to us, breathing rather deeply from the exercise. I smiled at him and pulled him into the hug, squeezing him and Mikasa in my arms. Mikasa returned it with by holding the Armin and me closer to her, which was actually starting to feel a bit painful. Mikasa was scarily strong for a person, but the fact that she hasn’t slacked on her workouts despite being in college now made me a little proud. And a bit envious.

But _damn_ , Mikasa can really hurt.

Luckily for my pride, Armin gave out before I did.

“Okay, okay I get it. Big group hug, yeah. Mikasa, it’s starting to hurt, relax your muscles, relax!” he blurted out the last part quickly, clearly getting the life wringed out of him.

Mikasa loosened her grip on us and pulled away. Our arms were still wound around each other. She dug her face into the old scarf I gave her when we were kids. “Sorry,” she mumbled through the fabric. “I got carried away.”

I shook my head. “Don’t apologize. This is a family reunion, we’re meant to have cliché group hugs in the middle of crowded train stations.”

Armin’s smile grew and Mikasa let out a huff of laughter through her nose. It felt so great for the three of us to be together again. It was only about 2 months or so since I had last seen Mikasa and I haven’t been spending that much time with Armin lately, so some time together was very much needed.

Armin tucked his textbook back in his bag. “Eren, shall we go now? I think Mikasa needs to settle in.” To show his point, he gestured to the backpack Mikasa had hoisted on one shoulder and the large luggage case at her feet.

I blinked. “That’s a lot. Aren’t you only staying for a few days?”

Mikasa rolled her eyes and childishly stuck out her tongue. “You just don’t understand girls, Eren.”

Naturally competitive, I stuck my own tongue back at her.

Armin chuckled under his breath at our display of sibling bonding and I punched him lightly on the shoulder, which only made him laugh louder. Jerk.

We left the station and Armin called a cab. When it stopped for us, the three of us got in with me in the middle while Mikasa gave the driver directions. It was a bit uncomfortable, considering the space. It would have been better if Armin were in the middle, since he was smaller than Mikasa and I, but it was too late for it now. Mikasa was squished against the window, clearly trying to give us more space, but I pulled on her arm to keep upright. She frowned but didn’t try to move away. The three of us sat should to shoulder, reveling in each other’s warmth.

I winced when Armin buried his elbow into my side as he was shifting his position. Damn, this kid had sharp elbows what the hell.

“Oh right Mikasa, where are you staying for the time being?” Armin asked, bending to look over me and at her.

She turned her head at him and answered. “With a friend. We’re headed there right now, actually.” Pulling her scarf up higher, she also added, “I didn’t want to burden you with living arrangements. You two live in dorms, don’t you?”

I tensed. Right, Mikasa didn’t know about how I was sharing an apartment with Levi. I wasn’t too keen on talking about my rooming situation with her, anyways. She’d just end up fussing over nothing. It’s not that I hate it, but she should really be focusing more on herself than me.

“Actually, Eren’s living in an apartment.” Fuck you Armin you can say goodbye to that dictionary I was planning to buy you for Christmas. (I wasn’t actually going to buy him a dictionary but who cares about details.)

“You aren’t?” Mikasa looked over at me with imploring eyes.

I had two choices at this point. Turn the conversation around, or answer truthfully.

“He’s living with someone named Levi because the administration messed up the room sorting and left him without a dorm.”

Or have Armin do it for me. Thanks buddy; I could always count on you. Am I always this sarcastic, or is the lack of coffee getting to me? I shouldn’t have left it back at the station when I was looking for Mikasa.

“Is he treating you well, Eren?” Mikasa asked with knit eyebrows.

I cleared my throat. “Well I’m still alive aren’t I?” I attempted to play it as a joke, but Mikasa seemed to take it the wrong way so I had to quickly add to it. “Yeah it’s going great! We get along really well!” Or at least, I _think_ we’re getting along.

Mikasa visibly relaxed, her fingers toying around with the end of her scarf. I breathed out in relief that she didn’t overreact, and I asked her a question instead.

“So, who’s this friend you’re staying with?”

Mikasa looked up from her scarf. “Her name is Annie. I met her back in high school when we were in the same photography class.”

“Annie?” I repeated at the mention of the stoic waiter who worked at the café Armin and I were regulars at.

Mikasa nodded. “She’s a bit… distant, but she’s not that bad once you get to know her. We’ve kept in contact even when she decided to go to Rose.”

“Eren and I have met her before, I think. She works at the café we usually go to, but I didn’t know she went to Trost.” Armin piped up, genuinely interested at the topic. He’d always get that look in his bright blue eyes when he was.

“She’s a year older than us, so that’s probably why.” Mikasa explained with a shrug.

At that moment, the cab stopped as we reached out destination and the three of us filed out of the cramped car. We waited for Mikasa to take her luggage from the trunk as Armin and I followed her to Annie’s place quickly before we could freeze in the brutal weather. 

It was too cold to even attempt to open my mouth and talk, so I just listened as Mikasa talked about her college life and the people she’s met, while Armin spoke his own fair share of stories and included some of the ones I’ve told him about mine. I nodded whenever it was needed and laughed whenever something was funny, but it was far too cold for me to be doing anything else.

 

* * *

 

We went up to the 4th floor of a tall building and stopped in front of one of the many doors. Mikasa knocked and after a few seconds or so, a short blonde wearing a long sleeved sweater and large gym shorts answered, confirming that Mikasa really was talking about the Annie that I knew.

Annie took one look at Mikasa with her icy eyes, then at me, then to Armin, then to me, and back to Mikasa.

“I didn’t know you knew these two.” she commented. Her voice sounded exactly the same as when she came to take my order every day. Emotionless and detached.

It reminded me of Levi, for some reason.

Mikasa allowed Annie to take her things as she replied, “Eren’s my brother and Armin is our childhood friend.”

Annie nodded before heading back into the room, inviting us in with the jerk of her chin.

“Sorry about the mess, Reiner’s working on overdrive since Bertholdt got sick.” She let out a grossed out “ugh” as she kicked a few discarded shirts into a pile in the corner.

“Bertholdt got sick?” I questioned, confused that it would be Bertholdt of all people to get sick rather than Reiner, who was spending most of his time nursing a sick Annie.

Annie nodded again. “He probably got it from me, but since Mikasa’s staying over, he’s insisted on being locked up in his room because he doesn’t want to spread it. He won’t let anyone in except for Reiner. Poor guy.” She sounded quite concerned for the taller male.

Armin, who hasn’t spoken since we got up here, was looking around the rooms. “Where’s Mikasa going to stay? It’s kind of crowded.” He swallowed. “Um, no offense.”

Annie didn’t seem bothered by it and looked at him with a “duh” expression. “She’s staying with me in my room of course.”

Mikasa coughed rather loudly as she pulled up her scarf to the bridge of her nose. “ _Annie_.” she hissed lowly, squeezing her arm.

Armin and I watched as Mikasa bent down to talk quietly with Annie, who was stretched up on her tip toes to speak.

My best friend used this opportunity to start up a conversation with me.

“Oh Eren,” he started. “I forgot to tell you earlier, but some friends of mine were going out tonight and I wanted to ask if you wanted to come with?”

I tried not to frown when I heard Armin talk about his friends.

“It’s sort of like a get together; a high school reunion of sorts.” he explained. “Actually, I don’t even know where we’ll be going to, since Jean was the one who suggested it when I talked about Mikasa coming. I thought that maybe you and Mikasa would like to go with me, since it’s her first day visiting and I think it’ll be fun.”

At Jean’s name, I grimaced. “You can count me out if horse face is going to be there.”

I admit, the reason why I didn’t want to go wasn’t because of Jean (he’s still one the reasons, albeit not the main), but because I knew in the back of my head, that I didn’t want to see Armin’s new friends. New friends who he spends more time with now than his best friend who’s known him since they practically in diapers. It was stupid, but I didn’t want meet them or talk to them and the thought of it either made me queasy or angry.

Armin let out a sigh of frustration and looked at me with stern eyes. “Look Eren, I _know_ you don’t like Jean. You’ve made it clear the first 10 minutes of talking to him that you don’t like him. But you know what? He’s not very fond of you either, but at least he’s actually mature enough to deal with it and even suggested inviting you.” He kept his voice even and calm, despite the amount of emotion I could see through his eyes. “He’s my friend, Eren. And you’re my friend too.”

And for once, I was speechless as I listened to Armin. Speechless and guilty. Very guilty.

He was probably right. No, he _was_ right. I’m just acting like a kid, not a young adult who’s supposed to be preparing for a professional career over the course of the next four years.

“Are we interrupting something or should we wait for you two to finish?” Annie interrupted, her conversation with Mikasa had ended and now she and my sister were looking between Armin and I. Annie had her unchanging calm demeanor while Mikasa looked at Armin and me with worry.

“No, we’re done.” I answered for the both of us.

Armin sighed from next to me and I felt guilt nipping at my feet. My hands fisted so tightly in my pockets it was starting to hurt.

The girls nodded, but Mikasa still looked concerned, so I shooed her away to go with Annie when she suggested helping put Mikasa’s things in her room.

I wanted to rip my hair out because of how stupid I was. I knew that it was selfish and childish to be jealous of Armin’s other friends. I was still living in the past, holding onto the loose threads of friendship as they got looser and more fragile. It wasn’t like I thought they were taking Armin away, but it was probably because I felt left out. Armin and Mikasa were always there with me and we looked out for each other, but now, I think I realize that I have been relying on them too much. In my younger years, I had always thought that Mikasa was too suffocating to be around although she had protected me from the brunt of my consequences, or that Armin was always there to hear me out and give assistance despite his usually pacifistic personality that often clashed with mine’s.

I decided I was going to try. For Armin and for myself. I was going to try, just like how I was trying with my own roommate.

It felt like I was seeing the world in a whole new view as I was deep in thought in a small messy living room. Was this how people felt when they reached enlightenment?

I didn’t even notice the time go by while I was thinking until Mikasa and Annie came back to check up on us. Mikasa still looked quite uneasy, paired along with her oddly disheveled appearance (black hair messed up, scarf loosened. Annie didn’t look any better.) With newfound confidence, I stared at my sister in the eye and told her, “Me and Armin are going out to meet some friends tonight, you wanna come with?”

Armin turned looked at me with such comically wide eyes that I couldn’t figure out if the smile creeping on my face was from his expression or from my determination.

But there was one thing that I _could_ figure out. This time, I’ll do things right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't have much to say other than merry christmas/any other holiday that people celebrate during this time because i don't celebrate anything


	7. seventh note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren goes out and finally discovers what Levi's suspicious mystery job is.
> 
> Hint: It's pretty anticlimactic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yet again i have let the days go by as i avoid posting another chapter because of my odd insecurities.....
> 
> i actually hate the name of this fic by the way. i'm like 95% sure i'm going to change it in the future if i can think of something better so heads up if i ever do change it.
> 
> anyways, this chapter's quite long (about 13 pages in word) but that only means it's a whole lot more boring

Armin and I had settled down after my agreement to go out with him to wherever we were supposed to go. He was so happy at my agreement that his eyes glistened for a moment before he threw his arms around me in a hug while he thanked me, and I had to push away the tiny little amount of doubt that I still had about myself into the vacated recesses of my mind.

Mikasa ended up accepting the offer to come with us after I asked, although I could tell it was mainly because she didn’t want to feel left behind and agreed mostly because of us.

We said goodbye to Annie for the time being and went to enjoy the rest of our free day. After wandering around and exchanging small talk, we decided on grabbing a bite to eat and then check out the zoo.

Yes, the zoo. I literally haven’t been there in years so it was quite the experience, if I do say so myself.

By that I mean Armin and Mikasa had to physically drag me out of the tiger room as I clawed at the glass that separated me from the majestic felines. I think I also pissed off a bunch of parents because I was hogging up all the space and the little kids around me could barely get in a peek. That was their loss though, there was no way I was going to look at tigers without getting as close as I could legally get.

Tigers were pretty great.

We spent a few hours at the zoo, with Armin spouting so much information about the various animals that one of the zoo workers actually noticed and approached him, asking if he could work as an educator to teach people about the animals. Armin of course, had to decline the offer because of college, but we got free admission for the next time we went to the zoo thanks to his genius. 

Guess who’s going to go see the tigers again next week. I’ll give you a hint. Me.

 

* * *

 

When we left the zoo, it was already about 6 in the evening, so Armin suggested that we part ways for now until we were to go out later that night. Mikasa agreed, saying that she needed some time to get ready. We left with Armin telling us that he’d text us directions to the place we were going to, which still was unknown because Jean hadn’t been letting out any details of the location.

It took me about half an hour to get back to the apartment from the zoo by bus. Hopefully, I had time to change because what I was wearing looked awfully casual, and maybe Mikasa was rubbing off on me.

I made myself another cup of coffee to make up for this morning before I noticed that Levi was gone again. Of course, I had my doubts on him actually staying during the break. He was never present during weekends before either, despite him not having class during those times.

I took a long sip of my freshly made coffee as I randomly flipped to some channels on the TV, attempting to pass the time until Armin confirmed where to go later this evening.

After I finished a cup or two and watched reruns of some random shows I’ve never heard of until now, I finally decided to change out of the t-shirt and zip-up jacket that I’d worn today into something more suitable.

In the middle of taking off my shirt, my phone buzzed loudly on my wooden desk. Quickly, I threw the shirt off onto my bed and read what Armin had sent me.

“ _Eren, Jean said we’re going to a club (it’s legal don’t worry). I sent you the directions from your place. We’re meeting at like 8. Don’t be late ok?_ ”

8\. That was a good hour and a half away, meaning I had time to get ready and take my time getting there.

I already had a feeling earlier that it was a club we were going to of course; Jean definitely seemed like the type. I’m slightly surprised that Armin had still agreed to go despite it all; he’s never even _seen_ a club during the 18 years of his life, let alone go to one. I didn’t want him to do something he wouldn’t want to do, even if it was for the sake of horse face Kirschtein.

I stretched loudly and walked over to find some clothes. It didn’t take me long to decide on what to wear, I didn’t have a really large wardrobe afterall. I threw on solid beige button up and decided to keep the jacket I wore earlier today as I knew it was only going to get colder as the night went on. I pulled on a newer looking pair of black jeans, which apparently I’ve had for a while but I have never worn because it felt a bit uncomfortably tight around the thighs, but it was manageable.

I gave myself a once over and came to the conclusion that it was good enough. I wasn’t sure what attire was suitable for, clubbing? Were we going clubbing? Is that the proper term? I didn’t even know. 

Trying to fix my hair to look more like I brushed it rather than woke up with a full on bed head, I checked the time again on my phone. It was still pretty early, but I left anyways incase I got delayed by having to wait for the bus or if I got lost. I’ve never been to that part of town, and I hope that I wouldn’t be late.

 

* * *

 

It was a good thing I left early, because there wasn’t a single bus for at least 15 minutes and I was freezing my ass off waiting and I almost threw myself into the bus when it finally arrived at the stop, much to the dissatisfaction of the driver. I was shivering nonstop and the barely there heat of the bus wasn’t helping one bit. I bet it wasn’t a pretty sight; sitting in the back of an almost empty bus and trying to curl up into a ball while sitting upright in an uncomfortable plastic seat.

I checked my phone to confirm if I was going in the right direction, which I was, only to see that Mikasa had sent me a text just a few minutes ago when I was freezing myself at the bus stop.

“ _Are you okay you aren’t lost right. Do you want annie to come pick you up?”_

I rolled my eyes at the text. Yet again, leave it to Mikasa to worry over every little thing. I made sure to write back that I was fine and on my way, or else she’d get even more worried at my lack of response.

“ _Ok but we are already at the club. You’re the last one.”_ she replied almost immediately after I sent her a response. I decided to leave it at that, as I was already almost at the bus stop near said club.

I only had to walk a block or two to get to the club, which flaunted all its “clubby” glory with bright neon lights and loud party music that I could hear right off the bat when I got off the bus. The hard beat of the bass rumbled the area around and I had to wonder if they ever get noise complaints.

When I entered, the first thing I noticed was the strong smell of alcohol, despite the sign outside saying it was an 18+ club. Armin did mention we were going somewhere legal. Almost immediately once stepping foot in the building, I gagged at the suddenness of the strong stench, but I held my stomach together as I scanned for any trace of Mikasa or Armin or even Jean. Spotting them at one of the booths at the edge of the room, I shuffled over to them, making sure to avoid any unnecessary contact with the other clubbers.

Mikasa greeted me first in a stunning black dress that seemed more appropriate for an expensive dinner rather than a club, and then came Armin wearing the same thing he wore earlier today. From the end of the table, one person away from the wall, Jean laughed and called me a slow ass and I cursed back at him, but when Armin hit me in the arm and gave me a chastising look, I backed down. I was also surprised that almost everyone that was invited, I knew in some way. Annie was hanging out a few feet away from the group, phone in hand. Connie, who sat next to Jean and across from an unknown brunette who was stuffing her mouth with some kind of food that I couldn’t tell from the poor lighting of the club, was making some kind of funny joke that made Jean the brunette girl (who introduced herself as Connie’s BFFL, Sasha) laugh loudly. Ymir and Krista were sharing one the stools across from the tables, the petite blond was kept upright on the freckled girl’s lap by a strong arm around her waist. Ymir wasn’t the only one showing affection though, because Krista had her arms around Ymir’s neck squeezing just as possessively, which in turn made my face heat up from second hand embarrassment that I had to turn away when I spoke to them when we were talking about one of the assignments for American Lit. Ymir snickered at me (like a jerk) but at least Krista was nice enough to try and hide the smile that grew on her face.

I laughed awkwardly through a whole conversion with Connie and Sasha, too uncomfortable to do anything else. I hoped it wasn’t too obvious that I didn’t really pay attention to whatever joke they were telling or some story from college that I didn’t bother listening to. To be honest, the more I stayed the more I didn’t want to be here, because it seemed like everyone was getting along with each other and I was just… there. Even Mikasa seemed to be acting more sociable than usual when she, Annie, Ymir, and Krista began to talk about girl things or whatever for a good chunk of the time. I attempted sticking with Armin most of the time, which proved to be difficult when he was busy with everyone else.

Suddenly, Jean pulled me into the seat next to him by hooking his arm over my shoulder, causing my leg to bump into the table leg when I was pulled down. I hissed from the sudden pain.

“Sorry about that man,” he shrugged. “Just wanted to say, your sister is looking real good.” He smoothed his stupid looking two toned hair, his gaze traveling to Mikasa’s direction.

I glared at him. “And you wanted to tell me this, _why_?”

“It’s hard to tell you two are related that’s all. She’s clearly got a head on her shoulders, unlike you.”

I growled. This is the fucking reason why I didn’t want to come.

“Yeah, thanks,” I spat out, throwing his arm off my shoulder. “I don’t think you have a chance with her though, she’s not attracted to horses.”

And Jean fucking Kirschtein had the fucking gall to look offended. God, I wanna punch him, no matter how much of a lesson I learned from middle school and being in public and Mikasa going to probably kick my ass afterwards. It was like the existence of this horse human hybrid broke all the grueling months of anger management and middle school counseling I had gone through.

But Connie, in an _amazing_ feat of observation, could see that a fight that was threatening to spill the seams and quickly attempted to calm us down by offering to buy drinks, which did work in settling Jean down, but not me. I breathed deeply, attempting to calm myself before I acted brashly, silently watching as the jokester went around asking everyone what drinks they wanted, exchanging playful banter with Sasha and a friendly argument with Ymir.

Mikasa and Armin both declined, of course. They weren’t the types to ever enjoy drinking.

“Alrighty then, how about Eren go buy them? I’ll pay.” Connie suggested, handing me a few bills and a piece of paper with the drinks that were asked before I could even decline the notion. I had half the mind to just keep the money and leave, but I decided against it when I saw everyone looking at me and waiting for me to get up before returning to their own conversations.

Armin gave me a calming pat on the shoulder as I walked by him. “Don’t worry about Jean, okay?”

I huffed and crossed my arms, the money and paper crinkling in my hands. I stuffed them all into my jacket pocket. “Did you even hear what he said? He has this thing for Mikasa, you know. Mikasa. Let that sink in for a moment.”

Armin chuckled at me, like he was amused at something he knew and I didn’t (which happened a lot). “Don’t worry; I’m sure he’s not all too interested. He just thinks Mikasa is pretty, which she _is_ by the way.”

“How are you so sure?”

He shook his head and gave me an all too knowing smile. “A hunch. Come on you have to buy drinks, don’t keep them waiting.” He pushed my back, shooing me off in the direction of the bar.

Wow, he’s not even going to offer coming with me. Rude.

I sighed as I reached the bar, sitting down at an empty stool. I had no idea what kinds of drinks these weird names written on the paper even were. Like, the only one that sounded relatively normal was the one that included a variation of my own last name, and I didn't even know what that one even _was_. And what the fuck was a broken down golf cart, anyways?

I’m pretty sure I paled at the names that should have been be illegal to call a drink.

I was probably glaring at the paper in my hands out of pure confusion until I looked up and into vibrant emerald green eyes that stood out even more when paired with the slight pink tinge of artificial neon lighting. The suddenness of it and the similarity towards my own eye color startled me, especially the face on the owner of those mischievous eyes.

A cute girl with brunette pigtails (or was it a bit redder than brunette?) looked back down at me, a smile across her glossed lips.

“What can I get you?” she asked, and for a moment I didn’t know what she was even talking about until I saw her uniform and realized she was asking for my order.

“Uh…” I looked back down to the paper nervously. No Eren, not the time to bust out your social awkwardness. Come on act natural, like you aren’t a complete weirdo.

I gave her the entire paper instead. “Can I get all these?” Nailed it.

She took it with her manicured hands. “No problem, but I need to see some identification, sir.”

“What.” I answered dumbly, and I suddenly remembered that all of us were underage and very much not legal enough to drink. Oh my god why did Connie ask me to do this?

I wanted to hide my mortified face in my mortified hands. What if I get arrested for underage drinking? I don’t even like alcohol damn it why did I even come. I’m sorry mom; your son really did turn out to be a criminal.

“Some ID.” the bartender gave me another professional smile as she reached across the counter to close my open jaw. “Usually, I would let it slide, but the big guy here wouldn’t allow it on his watch.”

“The big guy?”

“Well, in this case, he’s more like a little guy, but don’t tell him I said that. If you want I can call him out for you and you can explain why you don’t have any identification, but I’m not sure if he’ll hear you out.” She tilted her head, a pink nailed finger tapping at her chin as she contemplated her next words. “But, you’re a looker, so maybe he’ll make an exception.” She winked at me.

I’m pretty sure my face was torn between going white or going red.

I was so preoccupied with my inner turmoil and panic that I didn’t notice the girl turn away from me and call another bartender with platinum blond hair until I heard her loud voice.

“Hey Farlan!” she yelled. “Can you call Levi? We have another guy with no ID!”

My head instantly shot up when I heard the name Levi from the girl’s lips. No way was he going to be here. He’s been literally everywhere now this is not funny.

No, maybe it’s some other guy named Levi. It’s not really a common name but there was always a chance that it wasn’t the person I had in mind who enjoyed cleaning and writing on boring yellow post-it notes.

But of course, I was wrong. I was always so fucking wrong that I shouldn’t be allowed to even try because there was Levi, in one of those bartender outfits and his hair slicked back, stomping his way towards us. I can’t believe he’s a bartender. He made it seem so secretive when he refused to tell me what his job was, but it was just a bartender job. It’s not something to make a big deal out of keeping a secret.

Well, it explained the late hours, at least.

When Levi’s steel grey eyes landed on me, they instantly narrowed down into threatening slits and I tried not to cower in my seat, but I was sure if I wasn’t pale enough before, I was now.

“So,” he began, voice terse. “He had no ID and tried to order a drink.” He looked down at me accusingly, and I could practically feel the waves of irritation rolling off of him. He wasn’t in a good mood.

The brunette straightened up and responded. “I thought I should let you handle it.”

Levi nodded. “I understand. You can go now, Isabel.”

Isabel, the girl, nodded in return, leaving to serve another customer.

When she left, I tried to avoid Levi’s eyes as much as possible because there was a 150% chance that he’s going to kill me. No, he’s probably going to kill me. Yeah, Definitely. With such accurate readings, I should be a weatherman.

“What are you doing here, Eren?” Levi pinched the bridge of his nose.

I should be the one asking you that. I’m the one freaking out.

I attempted to laugh off my nervousness. “Haha, I… didn’t know you worked here.”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know.” His voice was deadpan as always. “Such as the legal drinking age, for example.”

“I’m 19…” I couldn’t help but mumble under my breath to prove him wrong.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re underage.”

“They’re not even for me, they’re for-“ I paused. It was for what? My friends? The only friends here were Mikasa and Armin. My acquaintances? All of them were still practically strangers to me. My classmates? I suppose that was the most accurate label.

“They’re for my classmates.” I finally said.

Levi raised a thin brow at my pause, but he just went to tap the granite surface of the bar counter in annoyance.

“Well then, tell your ‘classmates’ that if they want a drink, they’ll have to order it themselves. If they’re even legal enough to do so.”

“Well, aren’t _you_ too young to be working at a bar? In a club?” I retorted in a hopefully, steady tone.

My roommate gave a humorless snort at my words. “I’m 23, _kid_.” he emphasized the word to make a point and I could feel a vein pop in my head. “I’m perfectly legal enough. You on the other hand? Not so much.”

“Then why were you trying so hard to keep it a secret from me?” I raised my voice, ignoring the looks of some (probably drunk) clubbers next to me.

“Because I asked for a roommate to pay half of the rent for me, not a nosy little shithead who asks too many questions.” he bit back, his voice scathing.

“I was just trying to-“

“Eren?” My anger was coming back full force at this point, and I was about to give Levi a piece of my mind until I heard Mikasa’s voice call me back to reality with a single utter of my name.

I turned back to her, suddenly relieved to see her familiar face and her familiar red scarf and the familiar way she’d touch my shoulder whenever my temper got out of hand (which she was doing right now).

“Eren, are you alright? I was getting worried since you haven’t come back yet.” Mikasa rubbed my upper arm reassuringly.

“I’m fine.” I replied. I breathed out a sigh as I looked between my sister and my fuming roommate. “Mikasa, this is my roommate, Levi.” I gestured to the angry shorter male with a flick of my wrist.

Mikasa turned her head to look at Levi cautiously. Like a stray cat attempting to hold its ground.

“Hello.” her voice did nothing to hide the suspicion and instant dislike. Not good.

Levi returned the look with a bored stare but I could see the slight twitch in his right eye. “Hi. I suppose you’re Eren’s girlfriend?”

If I were drinking something I would have spit it out comically into Mikasa’s face at the sheer ridiculousness of Levi’s assumption.

“She’s my _sister_!” “We’re _family._ ” The two of us exclaimed simultaneously.

It wasn’t the first time someone had misinterpreted mine and Mikasa’s relationship. We looked nothing alike and we were always close, but I never expected Levi of all people to guess things wrong.

I wanted to see what Levi’s reaction was going to be for being mistaken, but Mikasa pulled me back into conversation, completely disregarding Levi’s entire existence.

“Come on Eren, let’s go back to the others. It doesn’t matter if you can’t buy any drinks, they can get it themselves. Let’s go.” she tugged on my arm, wanting me to stand up and follow her back.

Instead, I froze. Even Mikasa, who was hardly the social butterfly, was doing a hell of a lot better than me. I really didn’t want to go back to everyone else and the way it seemed like they all settled in their own little group while I felt like an outsider. It was so fucking stupid. I promised Armin that I was going to be friendly and get along with them for his sake and my own, but I couldn’t even bring myself to get close to them. So much for trying to reform.

God, I hate myself for this. I am the worst friend ever.

While I was busy with my inner self hate, Mikasa watched me with a look full of puzzlement and concern. “Eren?” her voice also reflected it too.

“Um, about that Mikasa… I uh…” I struggled to think up an excuse, mentally berating myself at how unreasonably cowardly I was acting and how nervous I felt when I thought about having to talk to Armin’s other friends. I could feel myself sweat as much as Bertholdt during busy days at the café.

Mikasa nodded expectantly, waiting for a response I couldn’t think of without coming off as rude as I possibly could sound by refusing to go back with her.

“He’s not going anywhere until he finishes his drink,” came Levi’s unamused I’m-done-with-your-bullshit voice that had conveniently saved me.

Both Mikasa and I looked back to my roommate with probably similar looks of bewilderment while Levi just stared back and gestured to the tall drink that he had just put in front of me with a point of an empty wine glass he was wiping down.

What the hell? I thought he said I wasn’t allowed to drink?

Mikasa frowned, although it looked more like a scowl. “Eren can just bring it back with him.”

“No, he’s not.” Levi said with a firm voice, like he was sure I wasn’t going to bring the glass of whatever back with me. “He’s going to spill it and cause a mess.”

Mikasa was about to retort back, but I held up a hand to stop her.

“It’s fine Mikasa. I’ll finish it and be right back, don’t worry.” I attempted to reassured her with a smile.

She looked back between me and Levi, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. She sighed. “I understand. But be quick okay?”

I nodded and pushed her gently from the small of her back to get her to leave faster, which she did. My eyes lingered on her for a few more moments as I watched her walk through the crowd of people, occasionally looking back at me, until I couldn’t see her anymore.

I turned back to Levi. “Thanks…” I spun the clear straw floating in the drink between my fingers. “I thought you said that I wasn’t allowed to drink, though?”

Levi rolled his eyes. “Not all drinks are alcoholic, in case you didn’t know that either.” He rubbed a bit harder at the already clean glass in his hands. “Just drink it and stop asking stupid fucking questions.”

“Uh, okay.” was all I managed to say before I stirred the drink a little and took a sip. My eyes widened.

Wow. This is good. No, this is delicious. Like, the best drink I’ve ever tasted in my life kind of delicious.

Okay, that wasn’t actually the complete truth, but it was still pretty fucking good.

“This is really good,” I said after I drank almost half of the glass in one sitting. “What’s it called?”

“It doesn’t have a name.” Levi answered simply. “It’s my own mix. We don’t sell it, so I won’t charge you for it either. You better not spill it.”

I almost choked on my mouthful. Levi was being nice again, even though he was almost angry enough to kill me earlier. I didn’t understand the sudden one-eighty mood swing. I didn’t understand Levi.

I swallowed. “Why did you make it for me then?”

“You looked like you really didn’t want to go back to your- what did you call them? Your ‘classmates’. I just felt pity for your sorry soul and decided to help you.”

“Was I that obvious?” If it was, then Mikasa would have noticed far too easily.

Levi scoffed. “You’re an open book, Yeager. No, your sister didn’t notice, she was too busy looking like she wanted to rip my head off.”

I looked back up at Levi from my drink. “Oh. Um. Sorry about her, she’s like that a lot. And about this too. You didn’t have to help me.” I felt my cheeks heat up from embarrassment.

“It was my own choice, alright? I helped you because I felt bad for you.” He sighed heavily and crossed his arms. “I know how it feels.”

“O-Oh. Well, uh, thanks anyways.” I decided against asking him what he meant by “knowing how it feels”, despite my growing curiosity. But If our dispute from earlier meant anything, then it was the better to be kept in the dark for now.

Levi didn’t say anything else when he turned away to finish whatever he was doing before. I didn’t know what it was, but it clearly looked more important to him than talking to me.

My mind wandered off as I went back to sipping the cold drink. Various questions that I couldn’t figure out the answers to popped up in my head. Oddly enough, they were all about Levi. Such as, how long Levi has been working here, or why he was so withdrawn about himself, or “knowing how it feels”. It was like for every unanswerable question I thought of, a dozen more came instead.

I didn’t even notice that I had finished the drink and began sipping on the melted ice water until I looked down at the empty glass cup. I pushed it back, realizing that Levi had left without a word. Well, it wasn’t something I wasn’t used to already.

I decided it was time to go back, and if I didn’t Mikasa or Armin would be checking on in case I died or something. Getting out of my seat, I looked back at the empty glass before I decided to fish a few crumpled bills from my pocket and slip them under the glass cup. Even though Levi told me that I didn’t have to pay, he never told me I couldn’t tip him. It was Connie’s money, but I’m sure missing few dollars wouldn’t hurt too badly.

When I arrived back to the others, Armin cut off his conversation with Jean, Connie, and Sasha to greet me back. Sasha, with a mouth full of food, waved to me enthusiastically. I stiffly waved back.

“Hey, I heard from Mikasa. You met with Levi?” Armin asked, getting that weird determined face he got whenever he heard about me and my roommate interacting. He kind of creeps me out at those times.

I nodded. “Yeah. It turns out he works here, crazy right?” I sighed. “He’s so weird.”

Armin perked up. “Weird? What do you mean?”

“Well for one-“

“Armin, Eren.” Mikasa cut in as she approached us, Annie stood silently at her side looking on with lidded uninterested eyes.

I frowned at the interruption, but I quickly forgot about it as Armin gave me a look that said “we’ll talk about this later”. I gave a small nod in his direction in response.

“Annie and I are leaving now.” She gave a quick glance at the small blonde. “She’s worried about Bertholdt and Reiner.”

Annie glared at my sister, shoving her hands deeper into the pockets of her hoodie. I’m not sure if it’s the lighting or not, but her pale cheeks were tinted slightly red. Mikasa rolled her eyes at her.

“I was going to ask if you two need a ride back?”

Armin shook his head humbly, lifting up a hand. “No, that’s fine. I came here with Jean, so I plan on staying. I think Eren needs a ride, though.”

“What? No, I’m fine.” I replied.

“Are you sure? You took the bus here, and it’s really late.” Mikasa went into mother hen mode again.

“You should go Eren. It’s not exactly the safest to go out this late alone.” Armin joined in, his big blue eyes full of concern.

Looking in between Mikasa and Armin, I shrugged in defeat. “Fine, I’ll go. I can’t do anything with you two double teaming me.”

They smiled; Armin with a grin and Mikasa with a small upturn of her mouth. Annie started walking off as Mikasa and I said our goodbyes to Armin.

The three of us piled into Annie’s old car (of some brand I didn’t exactly know, nor did I care). The silence soothed my ringing ears compared to the loud beating music that played nonstop at the club that felt like it was ripping apart my eardrums. How did Levi even handle that every single night, anyways?

I sat in the back since Mikasa took shotgun up front next to Annie in the driver’s seat. There wasn’t much talk during the ride back to my apartment; we were all pretty tired, and while I didn’t do much, I felt mentally exhausted.

“Eren?” Mikasa turned her head around to look at me.

“What’s up?”

“Your roommate… Levi? Can you tell him that I want to meet up and talk to him?”

I looked at her with surprise. Was I just hearing things? Was Mikasa asking me to set up somekind of date with my horribly antisocial probably-only-has-like-one-friend extremely secretive roommate? Maybe this was some kind of joke, it had to be.

But she looked completely and scarily serious.

“Uh….” I glanced out the window at the dark streets. “I guess I could try? Why do you want to talk anyways?”

“It’s about something I’m curious about, so it’d be nice if you could ask if he could meet up with me somewhere. Thanks.” She tightened her scarf around her neck as she spoke.

“This isn’t like a date right?” Because it’d be really awkward if it was.

Suddenly, after not speaking for most of the car ride, Annie snorted quietly as she drove. Mikasa looked back at her quickly and muttered a small “jerk” before she turned back to me with narrowed eyes of disgust not directed at me, but probably my roommate, even though he wasn’t even in the car with us.

“ _No, definitely not._ I would _never_ want to date a little prick like him.” she answered bluntly, but I couldn’t find it in me to feel offended at her comment. Her face looked like if someone had asked her to swim in a dumpster full of garbage. Her nose was all scrunched up and it reminded me of the time in fourth grade when I found a dead pigeon in the middle of the playground and showed it to the teacher and almost doubled over in laughter at the face they made.

Annie laughed. I was amused. Mikasa pulled her scarf higher up her face.

 

* * *

 

I managed to get back to apartment with no problems with a promise of setting Mikasa and Levi up, since my sister had reminded me yet again when I stepped out of the car. Shortly after, Armin texted me, asking if I got back safe and well (I replied that I was fine, of course). 

I sat on the couch and played around with my phone for a bit until my eyelids started to get heavy and finally closed as I fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you haven't noticed already i don't have a super great plot for this it's just levi and eren's developing relationship until i can get off my lazy ass and do things.


	8. eighth note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren manages to piss Levi off again and unfortunately meets Hange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay this took a while to get out sorry about that.
> 
> i get a lot of potential fic ideas that i end up writing a few chapters of during my spare time (aka time i should spend writing this fic), which is why updates are so slow.

I woke up presumably the next morning on the couch with heavy limps and a swelling eye. I threw myself up with whatever strength I still had in my muscles, groaning when I heard something crack in my back.

Oh god am I getting old or something? Shit that hurt.

I was still wearing my clothes from the previous night, and I have yet to remember how I had gotten back and how I couldn’t even reach my room before I passed out on the couch. It wasn’t a comfortable couch either, but I’ve crashed on it multiple times already.

Moving uncomfortably in my jeans, I shuffled into the kitchen for something to momentarily fill my empty stomach. If I remembered correctly, all I had last night was that drink Levi had made for me. Just the thought of not eating made my stomach growl in response

The bare tile of the kitchen chilled my bare feet when I stepped in, and I was temporarily so overwhelmed by the cold that I made a weird squeak and scrambled back onto the (still cold, but not as much as the kitchen) wooden floors. Crap that was cold. It was like stepping onto ice or something.

“Well, that wasn’t what I had exactly expected to be greeted with at 11 in the morning, but I suppose there’s a first time for everything.”

At this point I wasn’t even surprised to find Levi in the kitchen as well, clad in a shirt that looked three sizes too big and baggy sweats that bunched up around his ankles. It was like Levi was always showing up whenever I least expected, so the initial shock of it had subsided after seeing him at the club last night.

I looked down to Levi’s feet, noticing the bright pink fuzzy slippers and I tried to resist a snort, which still came out in a weird half laugh half cough. “Uh, morning.” I added in, hoping to make up for laughing at his ridiculous slippers.

Levi rolled his eyes. “Well good morning to you too, jackass. Don’t think I didn’t hear your little penguin screech when you stepped into the kitchen. That’s what these godsends are for.” He pointed down at the slippers I was just laughing at. “They were a gift, by the way.”

“It didn’t sound like a penguin!” I huffed, braving the cold floor again as I headed straight to the coffee machine for a daily dose of caffeine.

I reached for the machine, but it was pulled away from me by a pale hand.

I glared at Levi, who returned the look, but 500 times worse. I tried not to back down, which was proving difficult because damn, Levi had some good intimidation techniques. I should have known this back in middle school.

“No don’t you dare make coffee again, you little shit. We’re having tea.” my roommate declared, pulling the coffee machine to himself. “Do you know how fucking annoying it is to clean it after you used it? _God_ , do you even clean it?”

“It’s called a ‘coffee machine’ for a reason.” I bit back, reaching to take it back until he slapped my hand surprisingly hard, which made me pull back my hand in pain. Levi looked disgustingly satisfied with himself.

“Come on I need the caffeine!” I was starting to sound whiny, but fuck, I need to have coffee. I needed it like air right now.

“There’s more caffeine in tea than coffee, dumbass.” Levi said, reaching up and opening one of the cabinets. He paused. “On second thought, I don’t think you should have that much. It’s not good for children you know.”

My anger fumed.

Woah, calm down Eren. Deep breaths. Remember what you learned in anger management, deep breaths.

I breathed deeply and counted to ten in my head. Hell, I even resorted back to biting the inside of my lip until the skin stung.

“Fine,” I submitted. “We’ll have your damn tea.” And I had lost again.

I watched for a moment as Levi attempted to take something out of the cabinet, although he was failing quite miserably. Wait, scratch that, he was _struggling_ to take something out. I could even see in on his tip toes trying to reach for whatever he was trying to get.

There was no way I could hide my amusement this time. I grinned as I stood beside Levi, reaching the teal green box he was trying to take out and grabbing it easily without having to even stretch my arm.

“Did you want this?” I snickered, waving the box of tea in front of my vertically challenged roommate. He was probably going to kill me now, but I bathed in the feeling of superiority for as long as I could have it.

Levi gave me a blood curdling scowl, but I felt too haughty to feel its full effects. That is, until I felt the biggest fucking pain in my right foot and ended up dropping the box with a yelp.

 _Fuck_ , that hurt.

I grabbed my foot with one hand and rubbed it soothingly, my other hand on the kitchen counter helping me balance. Shit that hurt oh fuck I think my foot is broken someone call a hospital. Oh my god I can’t believe he almost broke my foot while wearing _fuzzy pink slippers_.

But what hurt more was the fucking smug look Levi had on his face when he took the box and started making tea with the coffee machine.

“I can’t believe you stepped on my foot…” I grumbled, still rubbing my foot. The pain still hadn’t ebbed away, and it felt like a car had rolled over it. I hopped, following Levi as he pulled out two mugs from one of the lower drawers and placed one of them under the machine.

“That’s what you get for acting juvenile.” he answered simply.

“You’re the one who stomped on my foot like a kid with a temper tantrum.”

“And who was the kid who flaunted his height in my face?”

I sighed, giving up the argument as I watched the tea flow into the dark blue mug. The familiar aroma of tea filled the air, and I realized it was the same type of tea that Mikasa and mom liked to drink. I smiled to myself. I had never particularly liked tea (I must have inherited the coffee thing from dad), but I always remembered the smell that lingered in the house on a cold winter afternoon after they brewed some to drink.

I accepted the second mug from Levi when he offered it. It smelled lovely, but I was torn between just holding it to savor the warmth or drink it out of courtesy that Levi would actually make tea for me. I looked over to Levi, who was sipping at his cup as he looked at me over the edge, probably waiting for me to drink. The way he held the cup was really weird. Like, wow if you hold it by the rim, wouldn’t it fall easily? Isn’t that what the handle is for?

A few minutes had passed and I still haven’t done anything besides savor the comforting heat that the tea gave off through the ceramic. Levi was still staring at me, and it was starting it be creepy, with his cold gray eyes and blank expression.

I looked down at the dark brown liquid that was beginning to cool. I exhaled, blowing away some of the steam that had risen, and gave the tea an experimental lap with my tongue. It was a bit bitter, but it was also surprisingly sweet. It was an odd taste, but as I downed half the cup (I hadn’t realized I was so thirsty until now), it was starting to taste pretty good. Not as good as a cup of joe, but it was something I could get used to.

At some point, Levi had stopped staring at me, and went turned away from me to face the opposite counter. I thought it was a bit odd, but I shrugged it off and went back to drinking the tea.

There was more silence until I broke it.

“Uh, this is actually pretty good.”

“Glad to know.” And just like that, Levi ended it.

There was more silence after that.

I finished the rest of my tea quickly, putting the empty mug in the sink for later, and then retreated back into my room with, “I’m going to go and change, okay?”

Levi didn’t say anything back.

 

* * *

 

When I changed back into something more comfortable, a pair of loose fitting pants and a t-shirt, Levi was sitting on the couch and watching TV. I stood behind the couch and looked over at the screen, mildly interested in what kinds of shows Levi watched.

“You watch animal documentaries?” I asked while I watched the lion chase down its prey and then consuming it in a gross bloody mess. I shuddered.

Levi replied without looking at me. “It’s entertaining. Lions are able to catch what they want so easily, don't you think?”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see it. After awhile, I left to go pour a bowl of cereal after my stomach had pleaded a few more times for food. I sat down at the kitchen counter to eat, knowing that Levi wouldn’t let me bring food to the living room without throwing a fit. I ate silently as I watched the documentary from afar until I finished the bowl in a few minutes.

And then, I remembered. Didn’t Mikasa say she wanted to talk to Levi about something? She even bugged me about it and kept repeatedly reminding me, which was still really weird, considering that she never really willingly initiated social interaction with others before. They usually went to her first. Mikasa didn’t even seem like she liked him. I remember how she was almost glaring at Levi when she went to check up on me at the bar.

I thought about how I was going to set this up. If I tell Levi outright that Mikasa wanted to talk to him, he would most likely decline without a moment’s hesitation, which wouldn’t be good.

Eventually, after another bowl of cereal was consumed and the animal documentary over, I thought up of something. Well, I wasn’t sure if it’d work, since I’m almost positive that Levi would say no to going out to dinner with me. But, it was worth a shot.

I nodded to myself, determined to carry out my plan, and walked back up to the sofa. Levi was still sitting in the same, tired looking position as before, this time his eyes were glued to the nature documentary on tropical rainforests that was playing after the animal one.

He must have noticed me staring and asked, in an almost angry tone, “What?”

I gulped and scratched my arm. “Uh, I was just thinking…” Okay, maybe this is a bad idea maybe I should just forget about this and tell Mikasa “Oops sorry he refused!” Although, she’d probably end up confronting him herself then.

“Well?”

“I was… wondering if you’re free tonight?” Hopefully, I sounded casual enough to not draw suspicion.

Levi stopped, and for the first time since he started watching TV, looked directly at me. It was still his usual unimpressed gaze, but he looked just a tad surprised, which in turn surprised me as well.

“…What?” was what came after a long pause.

“Uh, you know, do you have plans tonight? No work?”

Levi sounded almost hesitant when he answered me. “Not really.”

Well, that was something at least.

I continued, a bit more confident than before. “How does dinner sound? Like I don’t know, Italian? Or Indian? Maybe Chinese? Whatever you want.”

“…Are you asking me to dinner?” Levi responded. For some reason his voice sounded off, like he was trying to be careful to say the right thing. It sounded like the tone someone would use if they were in disbelief that they won the lottery (not that I’d know what that’d sound like). It was a tone I’d never thought I’d hear from him, but hey, at least he’s contemplating it.

“Uh, yeah, I guess. So what do you want? I think there’s this pretty good Italian restaurant a few blocks away from the café. It’s kind of expensive, but it’ll be fine if you order the cheaper stuff?” I suggested, my hands playing with the fabric of my shirt as I waited for Levi’s reply.

“I guess.” Levi answered slowly and I could almost jump in joy because _I actually succeeded in convincing my unsociable roommate to go to dinner hell fucking yeah._ That was a pretty big accomplishment. I can’t wait to put that on my work resume.

“Great!” I let my excitement escape through that exclamation. “I’ll tell Mikasa right now!”

I went to go get my phone, but something was pulling me back. I turned my head back and I saw Levi grabbing onto my shirt and giving the scariest glare I’ve seen from him yet and my breath caught in my throat.

“Mikasa? Your _sister_?”

Oh _shit_ , I let it slip.

I responded, wide eyed and actually a bit scared. “Uh, yeah. She wanted to talk to you about something?”

Levi stood up abruptly, which caught me off guard and I retreated back a few steps. I watched him carefully as he exhaled loudly and rubbed his eyes with his palms.

“I just remembered, I’m busy today.”

I looked at him with confusion. “Wait, but you just said-“

Levi cut me off with a scathing voice. “I’m busy.”

“But-“

“ _I’m busy.”_ Levi growled. Then, he stomped past me without a word, ignoring my attempt at reasoning with him.

I winced at the loud bang of a door slamming shut. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Levi look so angry before.

Well, Mikasa’s not getting some good news today.

 

* * *

 

After I went back to my room to tell Mikasa about the incident earlier today (she wasn’t exactly happy about the way Levi acted towards me), I noticed that Levi had left again, leaving me alone in the apartment. There was no note on the counter or anything hinting where he could have gone, which was usual. I had always just assumed that he stayed somewhere else most of the time, perhaps a friend’s place? Maybe Erwin’s?

I didn’t have much to do, and it was still about mid-afternoon. I could tell it was going to be a lazy day.

My hands itched to grab my phone from my room and ask Armin if he wanted to get lunch, but I refrained myself from doing so and made myself a cup of coffee (from the freshly cleaned coffee machine; I had Levi to thank for that) and took my laptop out to start on an assignment I was given before the break started instead. It was comfortable, sitting on the couch and lazily typing a few words in between sips of nice warm coffee. It made me drowsy, really.

Just when I was about to doze off with my laptop resting on my lap, there was a loud knock on the door that jolted my from my sleepy daze and almost made me drop my laptop with a curse. I whipped my head at the door. Shortly after, another knock came.

And another.

And another, until it went from a single knock to a series of loud obnoxious knocks that you knew belonged to loud obnoxious people. I almost didn’t want to answer it.

But of course, out of courtesy, I did.

Which was an absolute shit idea on my part because all I saw when I opened the door was a blur of brown and white and suddenly there was this random person squeezing the all air out of my lungs. A random person with horribly strong arms and smelled like animal fur.

And they wouldn’t. let. go.

“Leeeviii!” the crazy mystery person shouted right into my ear and _holy shit Levi knew this person?_

I didn’t reply, or it was more like I couldn’t reply because by this point it was getting harder to breathe and the crazy person still hadn’t gotten the idea to let go. Besides, I wasn’t Levi.

“Huh? Did you get taller Levi? And changed your shampoo? Maybe your body wash?” the stranger started asking a bunch of questions before they finally let go, letting me get the air that I desperately needed to get into my lungs.

“Oh, you’re not Levi.” they said with a tone much tamer than the enthusiastic booming voice they used when they attacked me with a hug.

“I’m not.” I managed to breathe out, placing a hand on my chest and taking deep rich breaths.

At last, I could finally see who the culprit was. A woman who had her hair tied up messily and wore crooked glasses and wrinkled clothes. I almost recoiled away from her and how she looked like she just came marching out from a stampede and maybe, just maybe, Levi’s habit of keeping up personal hygiene was rubbing off on me. Just maybe.

But seriously this woman looked like she hadn’t seen a shower in weeks.

Her face slowly morphed into one of realization and recognition.

“So _you_ must be Eren!” her voice went right back to the decibels of an elephant. “I’ve heard so much about you from Levi! Gosh, he just doesn’t stop talking about you and I can see why since you’re-“

“Sorry to interrupt but I don’t even know who you are.” I didn’t mean to be so blunt, but her incessant rambling was beginning to get on my nerves, not to mention that I was already a bit moody because she had prevented me from taking a nice afternoon nap.

She paused, a large smile splitting across her face. “Sorry! I tend to get off topic a lot, don’t I?” Ain’t that the truth. “I’m Zoe. Hange Zoe. Call me Hange though, everyone does!”

I nodded. “Uh, did you want to see Levi by any chance?”

“Oh yeah! You see, I was borrowing his notes from a lecture I missed because my dogs- oh they’re just the cutest little things you should totally come by and see them! Where was I? Oh, my dogs. They had to go for a checkup at the vet and I asked Levi to let me borrow his notes, and here I am! To return them!”

She said all that in one breath and I didn’t know if I should be annoyed or impressed by the amount of words she could spout off in one go. Perhaps she was on a debate team once?

“Well,” I said. “He kind of left a while ago.”

Hange’s face fell. “That’s weird. I thought for sure he was going to stay home after last night…” she muttered, a hand coming to stroke her chin.

“What do you mean?”

She looked back at me, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses with some kind of emotion that I wasn’t very sure was going to benefit me. “He miiight have mentioned going home because he had to make sure a “certain brat” didn’t die by the time he got back…”

Did she mean me? I don’t think there was anyone else who Levi called “brat” other than me.

Wait, does that mean he was worried about me? Was that why he was still here when I woke up this morning?

“Anyway!” Hange interrupted my thoughts sharply. “If he isn’t here, then I’ll just leave them with you till he gets back! You can do that for me, right?”

I nodded again, hardly able to fit in a word between her fast speaking.

“Great! I have somewhere to be soon, afterall.” She proceeded to shove a dark green notebook into my hands and walked away with a wave and a wide grin. “It was nice meeting you, Eren!”

“W-Wait!” I reached out and grabbed her arm with my free hand, causing her to look back at me with amused confusion.

I didn’t really know why I stopped her, because I wasn’t really fond of the idea of talking to her again, but I did.

“Is there a reason why Levi is so secretive about his personal life?” I couldn’t help the question that came out, but it was something I was genuinely curious about, and because Hange was his friend, I’d most likely get some answers from her.

Hange hummed. “Not that I know of. He’s always been like this, actually. Even when we first met in high school. The only reason I got so far was probably because I was relentlessly prying, and Levi just got sick of it.” She smiled, as if she was remembering something fondly. “He just likes to keep to himself. He’s terrible with people he isn’t familiar with.”

I nodded, soaking the information. That was probably more I learned about Levi in less than a minute than I had living with him for almost two months.

She laughed and waggled her eyebrows. “You know Eren, maybe you should take my advice and make the first move. Levi likes it when they’re aggressive.”

I didn’t really know what that meant. Did she mean that Levi liked it when people were violent? Or that he preferred it if people were as angry and temperamental as him? Really, this was only complicating things even more and left me right back at the starting point.

Suddenly, with an amazing amount of force, Hange brought her hand down to my back. I let out a pained whimper. It was probably meant as a friendly gesture, but it brought me nothing but pain.

I made a mental note never to piss of Hange Zoe.

“Whoops, sorry,” she apologized, but she didn’t sound sorry at all. “Well, it was nice chatting, but I gotta go. I have a lab that I’m doing over the break, and my partner gets really worried over the smallest little details! Like when I pour too much of one chemical into the test tube, and he starts sweating like mad and it’s hilarious! Ooh, maybe I should introduce him to you, Moblit’s just the sweetest little thing and-“

“Goodbye, Hange.” I cut her off in the middle of her creepy cackling, before she could start on another ramble. I gently pushed her out the front door, hoping that she took the hint and left while I kept some of my sanity intact. “It was nice meeting you.”

She was still talking, this time about a water fountain and green slime, and I really _really_ didn’t want to hear the rest of it as I successfully pushed her out the door and closed it.

Hearing her muffled “Bye Eren!” and her fading footsteps, I slumped against the floor with a large sigh. I felt completely exhausted after speaking with her, even though she was the one who spoke the most between us. I looked down at the dark notebook in my hands. I should just put this on the counter until Levi came back.

The thought of writing a note crossed my mind, and I mulled over it for a while before I finally decided and took my usual blue post-it note and started writing.

“ _Hange came over to return this.”_ was what I wrote.

I clicked the pen a few times, seeing if I had anything else to say. I decided to apologize for earlier today. I admit I felt a bit guilty; I should have just asked him straight up rather than trick him into agreeing.

I turned to the back of the note and wrote out my apology. When I was finished, I stuck it onto the green cover and left it on the kitchen counter.

I sank back onto my previous place on the couch. I looked down at the two pages of my assignment that I managed to type out before Hange came and interrupted. After mulling it over in my head, I decided that this was enough for now, and that’d I continue working on it gradually during the break.

I had the rest of the entire day free, but I really didn’t want to do anything actually. I wanted to call Mikasa and Armin over, just to spend some time with them, but I felt way too tired and after Hange, I really didn’t want any social interaction for the rest of the day. It was like she sucked out life force from people, as if she were some crazy vampire.

Instead, I just texted them as I sat on the couch and marathoned a bunch of movies on my laptop, making occasional comments to myself about the characters.

Today was a lazy day, indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wish i could write faster because at the pace that i'm going at, this fic is never going to end


End file.
